DG 

210 

.C745 

1800Z 


DUKE 

UNIVERSITY 

LIBRARY 


Gift  of 

The  estate  of 
William  Preston  Few 
President  of  Duke  University 
I92U  - I9U0 


The  Roman  EmDire. 


listorg  I rirnm.  Edited  by  J.  R.  Green. 


HISTORY 


OF 


ROME. 


BY  THE 

REV.  M.  CREIGHTON,  M.A., 

raiXOW  AND  TUTOB  OF  MERTON  COLLEGE,  OXFORD. 


ir/T/t  MAPS. 


NEW  YORK  CINCINNATI  -r-  CHICAGO: 
AMERICAN  BOOK  COMPANY. 


PRIMER  SERIES. 

SCIENCE  PRIMERS. 

HUXLEY'S  INTRODUCTORY  VOLUME. 
ROSCOE’S  CHEMISTRY. 

STEWART’S  PHYSICS. 

GEIKIE’S  GEOLOGY. 

LOCKYER’S  ASTRONOMY. 

HOOKER’S  BOTANY. 

FOSTER  AND  TRACY’S  PHYSIOLOGY  AND 
HYGIENE. 

GEIKIE'S  PHYSICAL  GEOGRAPHY. 
LUPTON'S  SCIENTIFIC  AGRICULTURE. 
JEVONS’S  LOGIC. 

SPENCER’S  INVENTIONAL  GEOMETRY. 
JEVONS’S  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

TAYLOR  S PIANOFORTE  PLAYING. 
PATTON’S  NATURAL  RESOURCES  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES. 

HISTORY  PRIMERS. 

WENDEL'S  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 
FREEMAN’S  HLSTORY  OF  EUROPE. 
FYFFE’S  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 
CREIGHTON’S  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 
MAHAFFY’S  OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 

WILKINS’S  ROMAN  ANTIQUITIES. 

TIGHE’S  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION. 

ADAMS'S  MEDIAEVAL  CIVILIZATION. 
YONGE’S  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE. 

GROVE’S  GEOGRAPHY. 

LITERATURE  PRIMERS. 

BROOKE'S  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 
WATKINS’S  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 
DOWDEN'S  SHAKSPERE. 

ALDEN  S STUDIES  IN  BRYANT. 

MORRIS’S  ENGLISH  GRAMMAR. 

MORRIS  AND  BOWEN’S  ENGLISH 
GRAMMAR  EXERCISES. 

NICHOL'S  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 
PEILE’S  PHILOLOGY. 

JEBB’S  GREEK  LITERATURE. 
GLADSTONE’S  HOMER. 

TOZER'S  CLASSICAL  GEOGRAPHY. 


\v.  P.  lO 


CREIGHTON— ROME. 


f37 

CONTENTS.  C9/^ 
H673 

SNTRODUCTION, 5 

CHAP.  I. — HOW  ROME  BECAME  A CITY,  . . 6 

CHAP.  II. — HOW  ROME  BECAME  MISTRESS  OF 

ITALY,  . . . . -19 

CHAP.  III. — Rome’s  wars  with  carthage,  . 35 

CHAP.  IV. — how  ROME  CONQUERED  THE  EAST,  . 47 

CHAP.  V. HOW  THE  ROMANS  BEHAVED  AS  CON- 
QUERORS,   51 

CHAP.  VI. attempts  at  REFORM  BY  THE  GRACCHI,  57 

CHAP.  VII. TIME  OF  MISGOVERNMENT  AT  ROME,  . 60 

CHAP.  VIII. THE  CIVIL  WARS  OF  ROME,  . . 66 

CHAP.  IX. — THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  EMPIRE,  . 83 

CHAP.  X. THE  FLAVIAN  EMPERORS,  . . .96 

CHAP.  XI. EMPERORS  ELECTED  BY  THE  SOLDIERS,  IO3 

CHAP.  XII.— CHANGES  MADE  BY  DIOCLETIAN  AND 

CONSTANTINE,  . . . . 109 

CHAP.  XIII. SETTLEMENTS  OF  THE  BARBARIANS  IN 

THE  EMPIRE,  . . . . I18 


TABLE  SHOWING  THE  DESCENT  OF  THE  JULIAN 

EMPERORS,  . . . .94 

CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE, I25 


LIST  OF  MAPS. 

..  The  Roman  Empire.  Frontispiece. 

2.  Italy  at  the  Time  of  Rome’s  founding, 

3.  The  Races  of  Italy,  .... 

4.  The  Peoples  around  Rome, . . . 

5.  Rome  and  the  Samnites,  , , . 

6.  Rome  and  South  Italy,  . . . 

7.  The  Roman  Roads  in  Italy, 

8.  Rome  and  Carthage 

9.  Hannibal's  March  to  Italy,  . . . 

10.  Italy  and  the  East 

11.  The  enemies  of  the  Roman  Empire,  . 


7 


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27 

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HISTORY  PRIMERS. 

ROME. 


INTRODUCTION. 

1.  How  Roman  History  explains  Modern 
Europe. — If  we  look  at  the  nations  of  Modem 
Europe  we  at  once  notice  that  they  differ  very  much 
from  one  another  in  language,  laws,  manners  and 
customs.  Yet  we  see  also,  in  spite  of  this  difference, 
that  they  have  a great  likeness  to  one  another,  which 
parts  all  of  them  from  the  nations  of  the  other  quarters 
of  the  world.  Now  the  great  thing  which  Roman 
History  tells  us  is,  how  these  nations  of  Europe  grew 
up,  and  how  they  came  to  be  so  different  from  one 
another,  and  yet  how,  though  one  nation  differs  from 
another,  the  people  of  Europe  seem  to  be  all  almost 
the  same,  if  we  compare  them  with  the  people  of  Asia 
or  Africa. 

The  great  reason  which  makes  the  people  of  Europe 
have  so  much  in  common  is,  that  they  all  owe  a great 
deal  to  the  laws  and  customs  and  ideas  of  the  Romans 
who  conquered  and  governed  them;  and  the  reason 
why  they  differ  from  one  another  is  that  some  owe 
more  than  others  to  the  Romans;  some  have  kept 
more  of  the  ideas  of  the  Romans;  others  have  kept 
more  of  the  ideas  of  the  Germans,  who  broke  up 
the  government  of  the  Romans,  and  founded  new 
nations  in  Europe.  So  you  see  that  the  history  of 
Rome  will  explain  to  you  how  the  nations  of  Europe 
grew  up  as  they  are  at  present. 

2.  How  Roman  History  teaches  about  old 
times. — But  besides  seeing  how  the  nations  of  Europe 
grew  up  under  the  influence  of  Rome,  you  will  alM 


6 


ROMAN  HJSTOR  Y. 


[INT. 

see  how  the  power  of  Rome  was  gained  by  conquering 
all  the  nations  of  old  times.  You  will  see  how  the 
people  of  Rome  first  of  all  overcame  all  the  other 
people  of  Italy,  and  then  went  on  to  overcome  all 
the  nations  that  lived  round  the  Mediterranean  Sea. 
Also,  besides  conquering  these  nations,  they  governed 
them,  and  gave  them  their  own  laws,  and  made  them 
all  like  themselves  in  some  degree  or  another.  Now, 
these  nations  who  lived  round  the  Mediterranean  Sea 
were  the  only  peoples  who  lived  in  cities,  and  made 
themselves  laws,  and  wrote  books,  and  were  what  we 
in  these  times  call  civilised. 

So  you  see  Roman  history  teaches  you  something 
about  all  the  great  nations,  both  of  old  times  and  oi 
oui  own  days.  Rome  was  a great  link  in  the  history 
of  the  world, — for  all  the  nations  of  old  times  were 
conquered  by  Rome,  and  so  came  under  Rome’s  power, 
while  all  the  European  nations  of  our  own  days  were 
formed  out  of  the  overthrow  of  Rome,  and  learned  a 
great  deal  from  her. 

3.  Important  points  in  Roman  History. — 
These,  then,  are  the  important  points  for  you  to  notice 
in  Roman  history : 

(i).  How  did  Rome  become  fit  to  be  such  a great 
conqueror  ? 

fal.  How  did  she  make  her  conquests? 

(3>.  How  did  she  manage  to  keep  her  conquests? 

(4) .  How  did  she  govern  the  world  when  she  was 
its  mistress  ? 

(5) .  Why  did  she  fall? 


CHAPTER  I. 

HOW  ROME  BECAME  A CITY. 

I.  Italy  in  early  times. — Rome,  as  you  know,  is 
the  capital  of  Italy : and  Italy  is  the  middle  one  of 
the  tliree  peninsulas  which  make  the  south  of  Europe, 
and  which  are  washed  by  the  Mediterranean  Sea 


;hap.  1.]  HOW  ROME  BECAME  A CITY.  7 

Italy  at  present  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the 
Alps.  But  in  the  year  753  before  the  birth  of  Christ, 
when  Rome  was  founded,  the  great  plain  between  the 
Alps  and  the  Apennines,  which  we  now  call  Lombardy, 
belonged  to  the  Gauls,  and  was  called  Gallia.  Also, 
on  the  west  coast  between  the  Apennines  and  the 
river  Tiber,  lived  the  Etruscans,  who  were  the  greatest 
people  in  the  peninsula  at  that  time.  The  land  which 
they  lived  in  is  still  called  Tuscany  after  them. 


South  of  the  Gauls  and  Etruscans  came  the  Italians, 
amongst  whom  the  Latins  were  the  principal  race. 
The  I^atins  lived  in  the  plain  south  of  the  Tiber, 
and  were  an  agricultural  people.  They  lived  in 
villages,  and  each  village  managed  its  own  affairs, 
but  they  all  gathered  together  sometimes  for  common 
objects,  and  this  gathering  together  was  called  a 
League. 

2.  Founding  of  Rome. — It  would  seem  that 


a.  Italy  at  the  time  of  Rome’s  founding. 


8 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap 


about  the  year  753  b.c.  these  Latins  founded  a colony 
on  the  Tiber,  to  guard  the  river  against  the  Etmscans, 
of  whom  they  were  afraid.  This  colony  was  called 
Rome,  and  as  it  was  founded  upon  the  great  river 
of  that  part  of  Italy,  it  soon  became  of  importance 
for  trade,  as  well  as  for  keeping  off  the  Etruscans. 

3.  Roman  stories  about  Rome’s  founding. 
— Now  this  is  all  we  can  really  know  about  the 
founding  of  Rome,  but  the  Romans  themselves  tell 
this  story  about  it.  A wicked  king  called  Amulius 
ruled  in  Alba  Longa.  He  had  robbed  his  elder 
brother  of  the  kingdom,  and  put  his  sons  to  death, 
but  a daughter  of  his  had  twin  sons,  whose  father  was 
the  god  Mars.  Amulius  ordered  them  to  be  thrown 
into  the  river  Tiber;  but  they  floated  down  the 
stream  till  they  stuck  near  the  place  where  Rome 
was  afterwards  built.  They  were  fed  first  by  a she- 
wolf,  and  afterwards  were  found  and  brought  up  by 
a shepherd.  When  they  had  grown  up  they  were 
made  known  to  their  grandfather,  whom  they  restored 
to  his  throne  after  slaying  the  wicked  Amulius.  Then 
the  youths,  whose  names  were  Romulus  and  Remus, 
determined  to  build  a city  on  the  Tiber.  They 
quarrelled  whose  city  it  should  be,  and  Remus  was 
killed  in  the  quarrel.  So  Romulus  built  the  city, 
and  called  it  Rome  after  his  own  name,  and  was 
its  first  king,  and  made  his  city  great  in  war.  He 
was  taken  up  to  heaven  by  his  father  Mars,  and 
was  worshipped  by  the  Romans  as  a god. 

After  his  disappearance  the  people  elected  as  theii 
king  Numa  Pompilius,  who  was  a peaceful  king,  and 
gave  them  laws,  and  taught  them  religion.  Then 
came  a warlike  king,  Tullus  Hostilius,  who  conquered 
and  took  Alba,  not  by  a regular  battle,  but  by  a 
fight  between  three  brothers  on  each  side.  The 
fourth  king,  Ancus  Martins,  still  further  increased 
Rome’s  power  over  the  Latins. 

Now  these  are  no  doubt  mere  stories,  but  this 
is  quite  certain,  that  all  this  time  Rome  was  rising 


HOW  ROME  BECAME  A CITY. 


9 


Ll 

into  importance,  and  though  she  was  the  youngest 
of  the  Latin  settlements,  she  early  became  the  head 
of  the  League  (or  gathering  together)  of  Latin  villages. 
So  you  see  Rome  was  a conquerer  from  the  very 
first. 

4.  The  City  of  Rome. — Rome  was  built  on 
the  banks  of  the  river  Tiber,  about  fifteen  miles  from 
its  mouth.  It  was  at  first  only  a few  houses  upon 
ti  little  hill  near  the  river,  which  had  a wall  built 
round  it.  But  as  the  number  of  people  who  came 
there  grew  greater,  other  hills  close  to  were  added  to 
the  city,  and  the  wall  was  carried  round  them  also. 
Not  more  than  150  years  after  Rome’s  founding  there 
were  seven  hills  within  the  wall,  which  was  nearly  five 
miles  round.  So  Rome  was  sometimes  called  “the 
city  of  the  seven  hills.” 

5.  The  People  of  Rome. — The  city  grew  in 
numbers,  because  men  came  and  lived  within  the  wall 
to  be  safe  from  their  enemies.  Some  of  the  men  were 
merchants,  and  went  up  and  down  the  Tiber  in  their 
boats.  But  the  greater  part  of  them  were  farmers, 
who  tilled  the  land  which  lay  round  about  the  city. 
So,  by  Rome  you  must  always  understand  the  city 
and  the  land  around  it  As  fast  as  the  city  grew 
in  number  of  citizens,  the  land  it  possessed  grew  also 
larger  and  larger.  You  see,  then,  that  these  citizens 
who  lived  together  in  Rome  had  to  think  how  they 
could  best  keep  off  their  enemies,  and  save  their  lands 
from  being  plimdered.  The  citizens  living  together 
for  their  common  good  form  what  is  called  a State, 
and  the  means  taken  to  bring  about  that  common 
good  is  called  the  government  of  the  state. 

6.  How  Rome  was  governed  in  early  times. 
• — At  first  Rome’s  government  was  very  simple.  The 
state  consisted  of  a number  of  families,  and  each 
family  was  ruled  by  its  head.  For  state  matters  the 
heads  of  the  families,  who  were  called  patres  or 
fathers,  met  together  in  the  Senate  or  meeting  of 
the  old  men.  The  king  was  the  president  over  the 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[O 


[CHAP. 


Senate,  and  was  the  father  of  the  state,  which  was 
looked  upon  as  a large  family. 

But  as  Rome  became  more  important,  many  new 
people  came  there,  who  had  no  place  in  the  old 
families,  and  so  had  no  share  in  the  government 
They  were  looked  down  upon  by  the  patres,  and 
were  called  the  plebes,  or  crowd.  Thus  Rome  becam< 
an  aristocracy,  or  government  of  nobles,  and  the 
common  people  (plebeians),  having  no  share  in  the 
government,  were  badly  treated  by  the  patres  (patri- 
cians). So  Rome  was  at  war  within  herself,  and  you 
must  see  how  this  war  went  on.  It  stopped  Rome’s 
conquests  for  a long  while : she  could  not  conquer 
others  when  she  was  torn  in  pieces  herself. 

. 7.  How  the  Kingship  came  to  an  end. — So 
the  next  three  kings  after  Ancus  Martins  had  diffi- 
culties at  home.  First,  Tarquinius  Priscus,  who  also 
made  war  against  the  Latins,  tried  to  make  a few 
changes  in  the  state,  but  was  prevented  by  the  nobles. 
After  him  came  Servius  Tullius,  who  succeeded  in 
helping  the  plebeians  by  making  a new  division  of  the 
people,  according  to  their  wealth.  Then  he  ordered 
that  every  man  should  bear  arms  according  to  his 
possessions,  and  that  men  with  the  same  arms  should 
drill  and  serve  together  in  centuries,  that  is,  ba^tds 
of  100  men.  As  the  army  was  of  course  very  im- 
portant in  the  state,  many  things  about  the  govern- 
ment were  settled  in  meetings  of  the  centuries.  Thus 
the  rich  men  amongst  the  plebeians  were  now  better 
off.  But  there  was  great  discontent  felt  by  the  nobles, 
and  the  good  king  Servius  was  murdered  by  his  son- 
in-law,  Lucius  Tarquinius,  who  succeeded  him  on  the 
throne.  The  Romans  have  called  him  Superbus,  01 
The  Proud,  for  he  ruled  them  harshly,  according  to 
his  will.  He  took  advantage  of  their  quarrels  to 
make  himself  a tyrant,  that  is,  one  who  governs  by 
his  own  will,  and  not  according  to  the  laws  of  the 
state.  He  made  himself  the  master,  instead  of  the 
father,  of  the  state.  He  was  a great  warrior,  and 


Lj  HOW  ROME  BECAME  A CITY,  u 

made  Rome  still  more  powerful  in  Latium.  But  at 
last  the  Romans  could  endure  him  no  more,  so  they 
rose  against  him  and  drove  him  out,  with  his  whole 
family,  and  resolved  that  they  would  have  no  more 
kings. 

This  driving  out  of  the  kings  took  place  in  the  year 
before  Christ  509,  after  Rome  had  been  governed  by 
kings  244  years ; but  we  cannot  be  sure  about  these 
kings,  or  about  the  times  when  they  lived,  as  there 
were  no  Roman  writers  till  long  after  this  time,  and  we 
cannot  be  certain  about  stories  written  three  or  four 
hundred  years  after  the  events  they  tell  about. 

8.  Rome  as  a Republic. — When  the  Romans 
determined  to  have  no  kings,  they  seem  first  to  have 
given  the  position  of  king  to  one  man,  who  held  it  for 
a year  only,  and  was  called  Dictator.  Then,  thinking 
this  power  was  still  too  much  for  one  man,  they  made 
two  yearly  officers,  who  were  at  first  called  Prcetors 
(or  leaders),  and  afterwards  Consuls  (or  deliberators). 
They  still,  however,  kept  the  office  of  Dictator  in 
reserve,  and  when  the  state  was  in  great  danger  a 
Dictator  was  specially  appointed,  who  for  six  months 
might  be  sole  magistrate  and  exercise  the  old  kingly 
power  over  the  state.  The  ordinary  magistrates,  how- 
ever, were  the  Consuls,  who  presided  over  the  Senate, 
and  also  led  the  army  to  battle.  Of  course  under 
yearly  magistrates  the  Senate  had  more  power  than  it 
had  had  under  the  kings : also,  the  assembly  of  the 
people,  who  were  called  together  in  their  centuries 
according  to  their  military  array,  became  more  im- 
portant, and  their  consent  was  necessary  in  making 
laws. 

9.  Early  difficulties  of  the  Republic. — All 
this  took  some  time  to  settle,  and  Rome  was  not  so 
powerful  at  first,  as  a Republic,  as  she  had  been  under 
her  kings.  She  was  attacked  by  the  other  Latin  cities, 
and  by  the  Etruscans,  and  suffered  great  distress.  Her 
lands  were  ravaged,  and  the  Etruscans  besieged,  and 
seem  even  to  have  taken  Rome.  When  at  length  they 


12 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap. 


*?ere  driven  back,  the  plebeians  were  in  great  misery. 
They  were  most  of  them  farmers,  and  their  farms  had 
been  entirely  destroyed  in  the  war.  They  themselves 
also  had  to  serve  in  the  army,  without  receiving  any 
pay,  and  they  were  called  upon  also  to  pay  taxes  when 
the  state  was  in  difficulties.  We  cannot,  then,  wonder 
that  the  plebeians  ran  into  debt  and  borrowed  money 
from  the  patricians,  who  seem  to  have  wished  to  use 
their  distress  as  a means  of  strengthening  their  own 
power  in  the  state.  The  old  law  of  debt  was  very 
strict,  and  gave  up  the  debtor  entirely  to  his  creditor, 
who  might  imprison  him,  or  sell  him  to  slavery.  The 
houses,  therefore,  of  the  patricians  had  prisons  attached 
to  them,  which  were  full  of  plebeian  debtors. 

lo.  How  the  Plebeians  got  their  own  Magis- 
trates.— At  last,  in  494,  only  sixteen  years  after  the 
driving  out  of  the  kings,  the  plebeians  thought  that  this 
state  of  things  could  not  be  borne  any  longer.  So  they 
marched  out  of  Rome  in  a body,  and  took  up  a 
position  on  a hill  a few  miles  away  from  the  city,  and 
declared  that  they  would  found  there  a new  plebeian 
city,  and  leave  the  patricians  to  live  in  Rome  by 
themselves.  You  may  imagine  the  patricians  did  not 
like  being  left  in  this  way,  so  they  sent  to  the  plebeians 
a wise  man,  Menenius  Agrippa,  to  persuade  them  to 
come  back.  He  told  them  a fable : “ Once  upon  a 
time  the  other  members  of  the  body  conspired  against 
the  belly  ; they  declared  that  they  had  all  the  work  to 
do,  while  the  belly  lay  quietly  in  the  middle  of  the 
body  and  enjoyed  without  any  labour  everything  they 
brought  it  ^ they  all  struck  work,  and  agreed  to 
starve  the  belly  into  subjection.  But  while  they 
starved  the  belly,  the  whole  body  began  to  waste  away, 
and  all  the  members  found  that  they  were  becoming 
weaker  themselves.  So  you  plebeians  will  find  that  in 
trying  to  starve  out  the  patricians  you  will  ruin  your- 
selves.” The  plebeians  thought  there  was  much  truth 
in  this,  and  they  agreed  to  go  back  on  condition  thai 
they  might  have  officers  of  their  own  to  protect  them. 


1.1 


HOW  ROME  BECAME  A CITY. 


13 


These  officers  were  called  Tribunes,  and  their  dutj 
was  to  protect  all  plebeians  from  wrong.  They  could 
deliver  any  man  from  the  patrician  magistrates ; theii 
houses  were  to  be  places  of  refuge  for  any  one  whc 
was  pursued;  their  doors  were  to  stand  open  day  and 
night.  Moreover,  any  one  who  laid  hands  upon  them; 
or  tried  to  hurt  them,  was  to  be  outlawed:  their 
persons  were  to  be  sacred  as  those  of  heralds. 

Thus  you  see  a plebeian  state,  with  the  tribunes 
for  its  officers,  had  been  founded  by  the  side  of  the 
patrician  state  with  its  consuls.  The  quarrels  of  the 
two  classes  had  gone  so  far  that  Rome  was  no  longer 
one  state,  but  two. 

11.  Struggles  of  the  Patricians  and  Ple- 
beians.— You  may  imagine  that  this  attempt  to  get 
over  difficulties  by  making  two  states  instead  of  one, 
within  the  walls  of  Rome,  did  not  make  Rome  strong, 
or  likely  to  go  on  with  her  career  as  a conqueror. 
But  you  will  remember  that  we  said  the  first  question 
to  be  answered  about  Rome  was.  How  did  she  be- 
come fit  to  be  such  a great  conqueror  ? 

One  great  reason  was,  that  the  first  200  years  of 
the  Roman  Republic  (500-300)  were  spent  in  a con- 
tinued struggle  between  the  patricians  and  plebeians. 
Both  parties,  to  begin  with,  were  very  much  attached 
to  Rome  and  to  its  institutions.  Each  party  regarded 
the  other  as  fellow-citizens,  though  they  wished  to 
oppose  them  on  some  particular  point.  The  struggle 
was  carried  on  with  great  moderation.  There  was 
very  seldom  blood  shed,  and  never  civil  war.  They 
had  enemies  outside  Rome  whom  they  had  to  fight, 
and  often  they  would  lay  aside  their  own  quarrek 
when  they  were  at  the  fiercest,  and  go  out  together 
to  battle. 

12.  What  the  Romans  learned  from  their 
struggles. — Now  this  was  a good  training  for  a 
great  people.  It  taught  them  to  be  severe,  yet  just, 
at  the  same  time.  It  gave  every  man  a high  sense 
»f  his  duty  to  his  feUow-men,  that  is,  to  the  state ; it 


ROMAN  HISTORY 


[chap. 


t4 

made  him  always  do  his  best,  for  he  always  had 
something  before  him  to  do.  The  plebeians  respected 
the  patricians,  and  knew  that  they  could  only  over- 
come them  by  working  hard  for  the  common  good, 
and  showing  that  they  were  worthy  of  the  rights  they 
asked  for.  The  patricians  held  out  for  their  own 
privileges  as  long  as  they  could,  but  learned  to  know 
when  they  were  beaten ; when  they  could  hold  out 
no  longer,  they  gave  way,  and  tried  to  make  the  best 
of  it.  In  this  way  the  Roman  people  learned  obe- 
dience, self-control,  and  perseverance.  But  they 
learned  not  only  to  be  wise  in  their  own  separate  lives, 
but  also  to  be  wise  in  their  general  life  togetlier,  as 
fellow-citizens  and  members  of  the  same  state.  This 
“ political  wisdom,”  as  it  is  called,  helped  them  greatly 
afterwards.  For  though  they  held  very  fast  by  their 
old  institutions,  they  learned  that  changes  must  some- 
times be  made,  and  they  learned  how  to  make  them 
slowly  and  gi-adually,  without  disturbing  more  than 
could  be  helped  the  ordinary  course  of  things.  It 
was  because  they  had  learned  how  to  give  way  when 
they  had  to  give  way,  and  how  to  make  changes 
wisely  and  slowly,  that  the  Romans  became  fit  to 
govern  the  world  when  they  had  conquered  it. 

13.  What  the  Patricians  and  Plebeians 
strove  about. — Now  we  must  speak  of  a few  of 
the  things  which  the  patricians  and  plebeians  strove 
about.  Their  strife  lasted  for  nearly  two  hrmdred  years, 
but  you  may  divide  this  into  two  periods. 

I.  494-450  B.c.  Fifty  years,  during  which  the  ple- 
beians were  trying  to  escape  from  their  misery. 

II.  450  -300  B.c.  A hundred  and  fifty  years,  in  which 
the  plebeians  were  trying  to  get  as  great  a share  ir 
the  government  as  the  patricians. 

14.  Agrarian  Law  of  Spurius  Cassius. — The 
first  great  attempt  to  make  the  plebeians  less  miser- 
able was  the  Agrarian  Law  of  Spurius  Cassius,  b.c. 
486.  Spurius  Cassius  was  himself  a patrician,  and 
had  been  consul,  and  when  consul  he  had  done  good 


I] 


HOW  ROME  BECAME  A CITY. 


15 


service  to  the  state  by  making  peace  with  the  Latins, 
who  were  henceforth  to  be  the  equal  allies  of  Rome. 
He  saw  the  sad  condition  of  the  plebeians,  and  the 
debts  which  they  were  obliged  to  run  into,  and 
which  brought  them  to  ruin  and  misery.  He  pro- 
posed, accordingly,  that  pieces  of  the  public  land 
should  be  divided  amongst  the  poor  plebeians.  The 
public  land  was  the  land  which  had  been  won  in 
war,  and  which  belonged  to  the  state.  Some  of  this 
land  had  been  divided  to  citizens  when  it  was  con- 
quered, and  some  had  been  given  to  the  temples, 
to  provide  for  the  service  of  the  gods  whom  the 
Romans  worshipped.  What  was  left  belonged  to  the 
state;  but  the  state  meant  as  yet  the  patricians.  So 
the  patricians  fed  their  cattle  on  this  public  land, 
and  used  it  as  their  own.  What  Spurius  Cassius 
proposed  was,  that  some  of  this  land  should  be 
divided  amongst  the  poor  plebeians,  and  that  the 
patricians  who  fed  their  cattle  on  the  remainder 
should  pay  a rent  to  the  state  for  doing  so.  It 
seems  that  this  law  was  passed,  but  was  never  carried 
into  effect,  for  the  patricians  put  difficulties  in  the 
way.  They  hated  Spurius  Cassius  for  his  law,  and 
accused  him  of  conspiring  to  make  himself  popular 
that  so  he  might  become  a king,  and  on  this  charge 
they  put  him  to  death  (b.c.  485).  But  this  Agrarian 
Law  was  never  forgotten,  and  you  must  remember 
what  it  was,  for  we  shall  hear  of  it  again. 

t5.  How  the'  Tribunes  became  powerful.— 
The  misery  after  Cassius’  death  went  on  increasing, 
and  the  tribimes  of  the  plebs  became  more  import- 
ant in  consequence.  The  plebeians  looked  upon  the 
tribunes  as  their  own  magistrates,  and  the  tribunes 
used  to  call  the  plebeians  together  to  discuss  questions 
that  arose.  The  plebeians  came  and  voted  according 
to  their  tribes,  when  the  tribunes  called  them  together, 
though  at  first  they  could  only  pass  resolutions  like 
om  public  meetings,  and  had  no  means  of  putting 
them  into  effect.  The  patricians  did  not  like  these 
2* 


e6 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[CHAF 


meetings,  and  tried  to  disturb  them.  But  the  pie 
beians  only  held  to  them  the  faster,  so  that  they 
became  more  important.  And  now  there  were  really 
two  states  in  Rome,  the  consuls  took  counsel  with 
the  Senate,  and  then  made  laws,  with  the  consent  oi 
the  people,  in  the  Assembly  of  the  Centuries.  Bui 
the  tribunes  took  counsel  with  the  plebeians  in  the 
.\ssembly  of  the  Tribes,  and  though  they  could  nol 
make  laws,  still  they  were  very  powerful.  For,  if  the 
consuls  made  a law  which  the  plebeians  did  not  like, 
the  tribunes  could  protect  any  one  who  broke  the 
law  from  being  punished  for  breaking  it : so  the  law 
could  not  be  carried  into  effect. 

i6.  The  Decemviri. — You  will  see  this  state  of 
things  could  not  last  long.  In  461  the  plebeians 
asked  that  the  consuls  and  tribunes  also  should  cease, 
and  that  ten  new  magistrates  should  be  elected  from 
the  patricians  and  plebeians  alike.  These  magistrates 
were  to  find  out  the  laws,  and  write  them  up  in  the 
forum,  or  market  place,  where  the  people  gathered 
together,  so  that  every  one  should  know  them,  and  no 
man  should  be  unjustly  oppressed.  Till  this  time  the 
patricians  had  kept  the  laws  to  themselves,  and  so  had 
been  able  to  judge  the  plebeians  as  they  chose.  For 
ten  years  there  were  bitter  struggles  about  this  pro- 
posal, till,  in  451,  ten  new  magistrates,  called  from 
their  number  Decemviri,  or  the  Ten  Men,  were  ap- 
pointed. They  published  the  laws,  to  the  great  joy 
of  the  plebeians.  But  one  among  the  Decemviri, 
Appius  Claudius,  a patrician,  was  a proud  and  haughty 
man,  who  would  always  have  his  own  way.  He 
wished  to  have  for  his  servant  the  daughter  of  a pie 
beian  called  Virginius;  so  he  got  a man  to  declaic 
that  Virginia,  as  the  girl  was  called,  was  not  really 
the  daughter  of  Virginius,  but  of  a slave  of  his.  Tlie 
case  was  brought  before  Appius  Claudius  to  try,  and 
Appius  of  course  decided  that  Virginia  was  a slave. 
Then  her  father,  who  was  a soldier,  and  had  hurried 
to  Rome  from  the  camp,  led  his  daughter  to  one  side 


I] 


HOW  ROME  BECAME  A CITY. 


17 


to  say  “ Farewell  ” to  her ; but  he  seized  a butcher's 
knife  from  the  market  place,  and  plunged  it  into  his 
daughter’s  heart,  saying,  “ It  is  the  only  way  to  keep 
you  free.”  Then  the  people  in  horror  rose  against 
Appius,  and  drove  out  the  Decemviri,  and  elected 
consuls  and  tribunes  again. 

Still  the  plebeians  had  now  got  the  laws,  and  so 
grew  more  powerful,  and  after  the  Decemvirate  (b.c. 
450)  they  were  not  so  wretched  as  they  had  been 
before. 

17.  How  the  Censors  were  made. — From 
450  to  300,  when  this  struggle  between  the  two 
orders  came  quite  to  an  end,  the  plebeians  were 
trying  to  get  some  of  themselves  made  judges  and 
rulers  of  the  people,  as  the  patricians  were.  In 
450  the  plebeians  could  not  hold  any  office  in  the 
state,  but  by  300  they  could  hold  any  to  which  they 
were  elected,  and  they  had  also  secured  some  offices 
for  themselves  which  might  not  be  held  by  patricians. 
The  chief  office  which  the  plebeians  wished  to  be 
admitted  to  was  the  consulship.  The  patricians 
fought  desperately  to  prevent  this,  and  when  they 
could  hold  out  no  longer,  they  weakened  the  power  of 
the  consuls  by  making  new  officers,  who  were  to  be 
patricians  only.  First,  they  made  Censors,  in  443,  who 
were  to  hold  office  for  five  years,  and  who  were  to  take 
a census  or  ntwibering  of  the  people,  and  were  to 
issue  lists  on  which  the  rank  of  all  the  citizens  was  to 
depend.  These  censors  could  enquire  into  men’s 
conduct  and  degrade  them  from  their  rank  if  they 
pleased,  and  so  had  great  power.  You  will  remember, 
too,  that  the  numbering  of  the  people  is  called  a 
Census  amongst  us  at  present,  and  was  always  a 
custom  of  the  Roman  state ; but  with  the  Romans  it 
meant  an  arrangement  of  the  people  in  their  ranks, 
as  well  as  merely  counting  them.  It  shows  how  the 
Romans  liked  order  in  everything  they  did. 

18.  Power  of  the  Assembly  of  the  Tribes. — 
About  this  time  Rome  was  busy  with  wars,  as  you 


l8  ROMAN  HISTORY.  [cHAft 

will  see  presently,  and  the  plebeians,  by  being  good 
soldiers  abroad,  went  on  gaining  power  at  home.  One 
way  in  which  this  power  showed  itself  was  in  the  im- 
portance gained  by  their  meetings  in  the  Assembly  of 
the  Tribes.  The  plebeians  demanded  that  the  resolu- 
tions they  passed  there  should  be  the  laws  of  the  state, 
as  much  as  the  laws  made  by  the  consuls  and  the 
Assembly  of  the  Centuries.  The  patricians  had  been 
obliged  to  give  way  to  this,  but  were  always  refusing 
to  obey  the  laws  made  by  this  plebeian  assembly.  So 
the  quarrel  still  went  on. 

19.  The  laws  of  Licinius  and  Sextius. — J^.t 
last,  in  376,  two  of  the  tribunes,  called  Caius  Licinius 
Stolo  and  Lucius  Sextius,  determined  to  win  the  con- 
sulship for  the  plebeians.  They  brought  forward  three 
laws  together,  and  said  they  must  be  all  carried  at 
once.  These  three  laws  had  something  for  the  good 
both  of  the  rich  and  poor  plebeians ; for  many  of  the 
plebeians  were  now  rich  men,  though  they  were  still 
looked  down  upon  by  the  old  houses  of  the  patricians. 
So  all  the  plebeians,  rich  and  poor  alike,  were  now 
made  to  work  together.  The  laws  were  these : 

(1) .  That  the  poor  should  be  helped  to  pay  their 
debts. 

(2) .  That  when  the  poor  were  out  of  debt  they 
should  have  pieces  of  the  public  land  given  them,  and 
the  rich  should  only  be  allowed  to  till  or  feed  cattle 
on  a certain  part  of  it. 

(3) .  That  one  of  the  consuls  must  always  be  a 
plebeian. 

These  great  laws  are  called  tlie  Licinian  laws,  frons 
the  name  of  their  proposer.  The  patricians  fought 
hard  against  them  for  ten  years.  But  Licinius  and 
Sextius  were  elected  tribunes  year  after  year,  and 
used  their  power  as  tribunes  to  the  utmost.  They 
prevented  the  election  of  any  consuls  or  magistrates 
for  five  years,  by  saying  that  as  tribunes  they  would 
protect  every  one  who  disobeyed  these  magistrates : 
BO  it  was  of  no  use  to  elect  them.  The  patricians  at 


I.]  HOW  ROME  BECAME  MISTRESS  OF  ITALY.  19 

last  had  to  give  way,  and  in  366  the  first  plebeian 
consul  was  elected. 

30.  End  of  the  struggle  between  Patricians 
and  Plebeians. — This  year,  366,  really  marks  the 
victory  of  the  plebeians.  They  had,  however,  to  fight 
an  to  get  the  patricians  to  keep  these  laws  of  Licinius 
'iiter  they  were  passed.  The  law  about  the  public 
kind  was  soon  forgotten,  and  tire  plebeians  had  to 
fight  hard  at  first  to  keep  their  one  consul.  After  this 
they  forced  the  patricians  to  share  with  them  all  the 
other  offices,  and  in  the  year  300  patricians  and  ple- 
Ixfians  had  equal  rights  in  Rome  so  far  as  justice  and 
gc'vemment  went.  Really  the  plebeians  had  got  more 
than  the  patricians,  for  they  had  the  tribunes  all  to 
themselves,  and  the  patricians  had  no  magistrates  of 
their  own.  Also  one  of  the  consuls  must  be  a ple- 
beian, and  both  might  be,  if  the  votes  so  fell  out.  So 
you  see  that  the  patricians,  by  trying  too  hard  to  keep 
everything'to  themselves,  really  lost  in  the  long  run. 

This  long  struggle  between  the  patricians  and  ple- 
beians is  very  wonderful.  You  must  remember  that 
both  parties  lived  in  the  same  city,  and  were  always 
meeting  one  another  in  the  streets.  But  there  were 
very  seldom  mobs  or  riots  or  bloodshed.  In  their 
struggles  they  always  used  means  which  the  laws 
allowed,  and  the  plebeians  obeyed  the  laws,  even 
though  they  wished  to  alter  them.  Both  sides  fought 
hard,  yet  kept  their  temper  : they  were  not  in  a hurry, 
for  they  knew  the  strongest  side  would  win  at  last. 
No  country,  except  England,  has  ever  been  so  wise  and 
aaoderate  in  settling  its  disputes. 


HOW  ROME  BECAME  MISTRESS  OF  ITALY. 

I.  The  Peoples  of  Italy. — During  the  time  of 
this  struggle  between  the  patricians  and  plebeians, 
Kome  could  not  become  a very  great  nation,  dtui, 


CHAPTER  II. 


20 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[CHAP. 


she  was  making  herself  feared  in  Italy,  and  it  was 
partly  because  the  plebeians  fought  so  well  against 
Rome’s  enemies  that  the  patricians  gave  way  to  them 
at  last. 


3.  The  Kaces  of  Italy. 


To  understand  Rome’s  wars  you  must  know  clearly 
who  were  the  people  round  her.  You  remember  that 
south  of  the  Alps  were  the  Gauls ; then  along  the  west 
coast,  north  of  Rome,  were  the  Etruscans ; while  on 
the  east  coast,  south  of  Rome,  were  a number  of  pros- 
perous cities,  which  were  colonies  founded  by  settlen 
from  Greece.  There  were  great  and  rich  Greek  cities 
too  along  the  coast  of  Sicily.  The  rest  of  Italy  was 
covered  by  purely  Italian  tribes,  of  which  the  Latins 
round  Rome  were  one.  But  these  Italian  tribes  were 
very  different  in  habits  and  temper  from  one  another, 
and  there  were  some  warlike  tribes  lying  in  the  valley® 
of  the  Apennines,  of  whom  the  Latins  were  very  much 
afraid. 


II.]  HOW  ROME  BECAME  MISTRESS  OF  ITALY.  2j 

- 2.  Rome’s  early  wars. — ^Now,  in  494,  Spurius 

Cassius  the  consul  made  an  alliance  between  Rome 
and  the  Latins,  in  which  another  tribe,  the  Hemi- 
cans,  joined  soon  after.  These  three  allies  defended 
themselves  against  their  enemies.  But  Rome  had 
very  little  power  at  first,  and  up  to  the  year  405  was 
engaged  in  fighting  against  two  tribes,  called  the 
^quians  and  Volscians,  who  lived  close  by.  The 
map  will  show  you  how  near  these  tribes  were  to 
Rome,  and  how  small  Rome’s  territory  was  at  first. 
VVe  know  very  little  about  these  wars,  but  two  stories 
ire  told  about  them  which  are  worth  knowing. 


3.  Story  of  Caius  Marcius  Coriolanus. — The 
story  of  Caius  Marcius  Coriolanus  shows  you  how 
the  quarrels  at  home  made  Rome  weak  : and  it  shows 
you,  too,  how  the  Romans  were  taught  to  obey  theii 
parents.  Caius  Marcius  was  a patrician  and  a great 
soldier.  He  was  once  with  the  Roman  army  be 


>1 


ROMAN  HISTOR  K 


sieging  the  Volscian  town,  Corioli.  The  Volscians 
came  out  to  fight,  but  were  driven  back,  and  Caius 
Marcius  pursued  them  into  their  town.  But  he  was 
the  only  Roman  who  did  so,  and  so  was  shut  in  alone 
amongst  the  enemy.  He  was,  however,  so  brave  that 
he  drove  the  Volscians  with  his  own  hand  away  from 
the  gates,  and  then  opened  the  gates  to  the  Roman 
army.  So  Corioli  was  taken,  and  the  name  of  Corio- 
lanus,  or  the  man  of  Corioli,  was  given  to  Caius 
Marcius  for  his  valour. 

After  this  there  was  a great  famine  at  Rome,  and 
when  com  came  from  Sicily  the  Senate  wished  to 
sell  it  to  the  poor  plebeians.  But  Caius  Marcius 
said,  “Let  them  have  no  com  till  they  obey  the 
patricians.”  Now  the  plebeians  heard  this,  and  were 
yery  angry,  and  the  tribunes  brought  Caius  Marcius 
to  trial  before  them.  Caius  knew  he  would  be  found 
guilty,  so  he  fled  to  the  king  of  Volscians,  and  offered 
to  serve  him.  Then  the  king  of  Volscians  gave  him 
a large  army,  and  he  marched  against  Rome.  The 
Romans  were  afraid,  and  sent  to  ask  for  peace.  They 
sent  first  the  chief  senators,  who  had  been  the  friends 
of  Caius  Marcius,  but  he  refused  to  listen  to  them. 
They  then  sent  the  priests,  with  the  images  of  the 
gods,  but  Caius  would  not  hear  them  either.  Then 
the  Romans  were  in  great  distress,  and  had  no  hope 
of  escape,  till  some  one  said,  “ Perhaps  he  will  listen 
to  his  mother  and  his  wife.”  Then  his  mother  and 
his  wife  and  children,  with  many  of  the  chief  ladies 
in  Rome,  went  out,  dressed  in  mourning  garments. 
And  when  Caius  saw  his  mother  he  ran  to  meet 
her,  but  she  said,  “ Do  not  kiss  me  till  I know 
whether  you  are  an  enemy  or  a son.”  Then  his 
mother  and  wife  and  children  fell  on  their  knees  and 
begged  him  to  spare  Rome.  And  he  wept  and  said, 
“Mother,  this  is  a happy  victory  for  you  and  Rome, 
but  it  is  rain  and  shame  to  your  son.”  So  he  led  his 
army  back,  and  Rome  was  saved.  And  soon  afte* 
this  he  died  amongst  the  Volscians. 


n.'l  HOW  ROME  BECAME  MISTRESS  OF  ITALY.  23 

4.  Story  of  Lucius  Quinctius  Cincinnatus. 

— Another  story,  which  the  Romans  tell  of  a war  against 
the  ^quians,  shows  how  simple  their  customs  were, 
and  how  all  the  citizens  served  the  state.  The  consul 
Minucius  was  warring  against  the  ^Equians,  but  they 
had  shut  him  up  in  a steep  narrow  valley,  and  guarded 
the  mouth  of  it  so  that  he  could  not  get  out.  News 
was  brought  to  Rome,  and  the  Senate  said,  “ There  is 
only  one  man  who  can  help  us  : let  us  make  Lucius 
Quinctius  dictator.”  So  they  sent  messengers  to 
Lucius  Quinctius,  whose  surname  was  Cincinnatus,  or 
the  mrly-haired.  He  was  at  his  farm  on  which  he 
lived,  and  was  ploughing  without  his  cloak,  when 
the  messengers  of  the  Senate  found  him.  So  he 
called  to  his  wife  to  bring  him  his  cloak,  that  he 
might  show  respect  to  the  messengers.  They  then 
hailed  him  as  dictator,  and  brought  him  to  Rome. 
And  he  ordered  all  who  could  bear  arms  to  get 
ready  to  march,  and  to  take  with  them  provisions 
and  twelve  long  stakes  of  wood.  So  he  marched 
out  with  his  army,  and  came  upon  the  HHquians  by 
night.  His  soldiers  raised  a shout,  which  cheered 
the  consul  and  his  men,  who  knew  that  help  had 
come,  and  so  fell  upon  the  .iEquians.  But  Lucius 
bade  his  men  dig  a ditch  round  the  ^quians,  and 
make  a hedge  round  them  with  their  wooden  stakes. 
This  they  did  all  night,  and  when  it  was  morning 
the  yEquians  found  themselves  shut  in  in  their  turn. 
Then  they  surrendered  to  the  dictator;  and  so  he 
delivered  the  consul  and  his  army,  and  came  baclt 
lo  Rome  in  triumph.  But  he  laid  down  his  office  ol 
dictator  at  once,  and  went  back  to  his  farm. 

Men  like  Lucius  Quinctius,  who  left  the  plough 
and  became  generals  when  the  state  wanted  them, 
and  then  went  back  contented  to  the  plough  again, 
were  the  men  who  won  Rome’s  battles  for  her  and 
made  her  great. 

5.  Wars  with  the  Etruscans. — These  wars 
witii  the  zEquians  and  Volscians  were  troublesome  to 


*4 


ROMANI  HISTORY. 


[chap. 


Rome,  but  were  not  really  great  wars.  Rome  also 
had  to  watch  her  old  enemies  the  Etruscans,  for 
Rome,  you  remember,  had  been  founded  that  she 
might  keep  the  Etruscans  away  from  the  Latins. 
These  Etruscans  were  a great  people,  who  lived  in 
cities,  and  built  large  buildings,  and  made  many 
beautiful  things.  They  were  great  traders  also,  and 
bad  ships,  and  in  early  times  they  and  the  Cartha 
ginians  had  been  masters  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea. 
But  the  Greeks  in  Sicily  and  Italy,  who  wanted  to 
trade  in  these  seas  as  well,  had  fought  both  against 
the  Etruscans  and  Carthaginians  : and  in  a great 
battle  in  4*74  the  Etruscans  had  been  terribly  beaten 
at  sea  by  the  Greeks.  But  the  Etruscans  were  also 
attacked  on  land  by  the  Gauls  in  the  north,  and  so 
their  power  began  to  grow  less.  When  the  Romans 
saw  this,  they  attacked  them  on  the  south,  and  in 
405  began  the  siege  of  the  nearest  Etruscan  city, 
the  city  of  Veii.  For  ten  years  the  siege  lasted, 
but  at  last  a great  general  of  the  Romans,  named 
Marcus  Furius  Camillus,  took  it.  Then  he  went  on 
and  took  many  other  Etruscan  towns,  till  Rome’s 
territory  reached  to  the  Ciminian  hills.  But  Camillus 
was  an  honourable  man,  and  when  he  was  besieging 
Falerii  there  came  one  day  into  his  camp  a school- 
master out  of  the  town,  bringing  with  him  all  his 
boys,  who  were  the  sons  of  the  chief  citizens  of  the 
town.  These  boys  he  brought  to  Camillus,  that  when 
he  had  them  in  his  power,  he  might  force  their  fathers 
to  surrender  to  him.  But  Camillus  was  very  angry, 
and  had  the  schoolmaster’s  hands  tied  behind  his 
back,  and  ordered  all  the  boys  to  flog  him  back 
again  into  the  town  and  tell  his  baseness.  Then 
the  people  of  Falerii  thought  so  highly  of  Camillus 
that  they  surrendered  to  him  of  their  own  accord.  /' 
6.  The  Romans  defeated  by  the  Gauls. — But 
the  Romans  soon  suffered  a great  defeat,  the  greatest 
they  ever  met  with.  For  the  Gauls  had  also  been 
conquering  the  Etruscans  from  the  north,  while  the 


a..\  HOW  ROME  BECAME  MISTRESS  OF  ITALY.  25 

Romans  were  attacking  them  from  the  south.  But 
the  Romans  tried  to  help  the  Etruscans  against  them  ; 
then  the  Gauls  marched  against  the  Romans,  defeated 
them  on  the  river  Allia  (390),  and  advanced  against 
Rome  itself. 

7.  Rome  taken  by  the  Gauls. — The  Romans 
had  lost  so  many  men  in  the  battle  that  they  had  nc 
hope  of  defending  the  city.  So  the  people  all  fled, 
except  a few  of  the  bravest  soldiers,  who  shut  them- 
selves up  in  the  Capitol,  which  was  the  fortress  or 
castle  of  Rome,  determined  that  it  should  not  be 
taken.  There  stayed  also  some  of  the  oldest  patri- 
cians, who  would  not  leave  in  their  old  age  the  city 
they  loved  so  well.  They  all  dressed  themselves 
in  their  best  robes,  and  sat  on  their  seats  in  the 
senate-house.  When  the  Gauls  rushed  in,  and  found 
no  one  in  the  city  except  these  old  men,  who  sat 
in  silence,  they  were  astonished.  At  last  one  of 
the  Gauls  began  to  stroke  the  long  white  beard  of 
Marcus  Papirius,  w'ho  was  one  of  the  priests.  He 
in  anger  struck  the  Gaul  with  his  ivory  sceptre  which 
he  held  in  his  hand.  Then  the  Gauls  rushed  upon 
them  and  killed  them  all,  and  set  fire  to  the  city. 
Next  the  Gauls  tried  to  take  the  Capitol,  but  they 
could  not  find  any  way  up  to  it,  because  the  rock 
was  steep.  At  last  they  found  a path,  and  one  night 
a band  of  Gauls  climbed  up  so  secretly  that  no  one 
of  the  Romans  heard  them.  But  there  were  in  the 
Capitol  some  geese,  which  were  sacred  to  the  goddess 
Juno ; and  as  the  Gauls  reached  the  top,  these  geese 
began  to  cackle,  and  awoke  a brave  Roman,  Marcus 
Manlius,  who  was  just  in  time  to  find  the  foremost 
Gaul  clambering  over  the  edge  of  the  rock.  He  pushed 
him  back  with  his  shield,  and  the  Gaul  fell : as  he 
fell  he  knocked  over  many  of  those  who  were 
following  him,  and  the  Romans  had  time  to  awake 
and  drive  the  rest  back.  So  the  Capitol  was  saved ; 
and  after  a while  the  Gauls  went  back  to  their  own 
country,  carrying  their  plunder  with  them. 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap. 


i6 


8.  Effects  of  this  burning  of  Rome. — Now  this 

taking  and  burning  of  Rome  by  the  Gauls  is  no  doubt 
the  reasoi  why  we  know  so  little  certainly  of  the 
early  history  of  Rome.  For  in  those  days  the  priests 
kept  notes  of  all  that  happened  every  year,  and  laid 
them  by  in  their  temples.  So,  when  the  temples 
were  burnt  by  the  Gauls,  all  these  notes  and  chronicles 
must  have  been  burnt  with  them,  and  we  cannot 
feel  very  certain  about  anything  that  happened  before 
this  time.  But  after  this,  things  begin  to  get  more 
certain,  and  we  know  more  of  what  the  Romans  were 
really  doing. 

9.  Marcus  Manlius  and  the  Plebeians. — Then 
the  Romans  came  back,  and  found  their  city  in  ruins, 
and  at  first  they  talked  of  leaving  Rome  and  going  to 
live  in  Veii.  But  Camillus  persuaded  them  to  stay 
and  build  their  city  again.  This  was  a heavy  burden 
on  the  poor  plebeians,  and  they  suffered  great  misery, 
and  were  in  great  debt.  One'day  a brave  soldier  was 
being  dragged  off  to  prison  for  debt,  when  Marcus 
Manlius,  who  had  saved  the  Capitol,  being  grieved 
at  this,  paid  the  debt  for  him  and  saved  him.  Man- 
lius said  also,  that  so  long  as  he  had  any  money  he 
would  not  see  a citizen  made  a slave  for  debt.  The 
plebeians  loved  him  for  this : but  the  patricians 
were  afraid  of  him.  They  accused  him  of  trying 
to  make  himself  a king,  and  put  him  to  death  (383). 
So  the  plebeians  learned  they  must  look  to  laws  to 
protect  them,  and  not  to  men. 

10.  Effects  of  the  coming  of  the  Gauls. — This 
invasion  of  the  Gauls  was  not  really  a great  disaster 
to  the  Romans.  They  suffered,  it  is  true,  but  not  so 
much  as  their  old  enemies  the  ^quians,  who  from 
this  time  forward  troubled  the  Romans  no  more.  Also 
the  Romans  learned  to  improve  their  armies,  and 
to  be  more  careful  in  battle.  The  Gauls  came  back 
_f^m  their  country  along  the  Po  year  after  year,  and 
plundered  wherever  they  went : but  the  Romans  nevei 
again  went  out  to  fight  them  rashly.  They  drove 


II.]  HOW  ROME  BECAME  MISTRESS  OF  ITALY.  27 

them  little  by  little,  till  the  Gauls  were  afraid  to 
come  back  again.  After  the  year  350  we  hear  no 
more  of  their  invasions,  but  Rome  had  grown  in 
power  by  her  wars  with  them,  and  was  looked  up 
to  by  all  the  tribes  round  about  as  their  protector. 

II.  Beginning  of  the  Samnite  Wars.— Ths 
Gauls  had  crushed  others  besides  the  AEquians,  especi- 
ally the  Greek  cities  south  of  Rome,  in  the  district 
called  Campania.  These  cities  were  so  weak,  and  also 
so  wealthy,  that,  when  the  Gauls  were  gone,  they  were 
attacked  by  a hardy  Italian  tribe,  called  the  Samnites, 
who  lived  among  the  Apennine  mountains,  which  ran 
down  the  centre  of  Italy.  The  Samnites  so  distressed 
one  of  these  cities,  Capua,  that  she  called  on  the 
Romans  to  help  her,  in  the  year  343.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  the  Samnite  wars,  which  lasted  for  more 
than  50  years,  that  is,  to  the  year  290. 


This  time  of  the  Samnite  wars  was  a most  important 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[CHAr, 


time  lor  Rome;  it  settled  whether  Rome  was  to  goverri 
Italy  or  not.  The  Samnites  were  the  stoutest  and 
bravest  enemies  Rome  had  yet  met  with : they  were 
as  stubborn,  and  almost  as  strong  as  the  Romans 
themselves.  The  first  Samnite  war  was  soon  over, 
and  had  not  much  result : both  sides  were  willing  to 
make  peace,  especially  Rome,  for  she  was  just  ther 
afraid  of  her  allies,  the  Latins. 

12.  The  Latin  War. — The  Latins,  now  that  the 
Gauls  were  gone,  did  not  wish  to  be  subject  to  the 
Romans  any  more.  In  340  they  sent  to  the  Romans 
and  asked  to  be  made  equal  with  them.  They  were 
willing  that  Rome  should  still  be  the  capital  of  the 
alliance,  but  its  Senate  must  be  doubled,  and  there 
must  be  two  Latin  as  well  as  two  Roman  Consuls  every 
year.  The  Romans  would  not  agree  to  this,  so  the  great 
Latin  war  arose,  which  was  to  settle  which  of  these  two 
powers,  the  Romans  or  the  Latins,  should  rule  the 
other.  It  lasted  three  years  (340-338)  and  was  very 
severe.  The  greatest  battle  of  the  war  was  fought  at 
the  foot  of  hlount  Vesuvius,  and  victory  was  for  a 
long  time  doubtful.  But  the  Roman  consul,  Publius 
Decius  Mus,  had  heard  that  that  side  should  conquer 
whose  general  gave  himself  up  to  death.  So  he 
covered  his  head  with  his  cloak,  and  rushing  among 
the  enemy,  was  killed.  Then  the  victory  went  slowly 
in  favour  of  the  Romans. 

13.  The  doom  of  Manlius. — You  may  judge  how 
stem  the  Romans  were  by  a story  told  of  the  other 
consul,  Titus  Manlius.  He  had  given  orders  that'no 
one  should  fight  a single  combat  with  any  of  the  foe. 
One  day,  however,  his  own  son,  being  challenged  by 
an  enemy,  fought  with  him  and  killed  him,  and  brought 
back  his  spoils.  His  father  ordered  him  to  be  be 
headed  for  disobedience,  and  stood  by  to  see  it  done. 
(\nd  though  all  men  were  struck  with  horror,  yet  they 
said  that  the  doom  of  Manlius  was  just. 

14.  How  Rome  governed  the  Latins. — The 
Latins,  then,  were  conquered,  and  Rome  took  all  their 


ii.J  ROME  BECAME  MISTRESS  OF  ITALY.  29 

towns,  and  gave  them  different  privileges,  and  taught 
them  all  to  look  up  to  Rome  herself,  and  to  care  more 
for  her  than  they  had  done  for  one  another.  You 
see  Rome  could  not  look  upon  the  Latins  as  strangeis, 
for  they  had  long  been  her  allies.  Romans  and  Latins 
bad  fought  side  by  side,  used  the  same  arms,  and 
been  almost  brothers.  So  when  Rome  conquered, 
she  did  not  treat  the  Latins  hardly,  but  she  took 
care  that  they  should  not  rise  against  her  again.  So 
she  would  not  allow  the  Latin  cities  to  trade  with  one 
another,  but  made  them  all  trade  with  Rome,  so  that 
Rome  became  their  capital.  Also  she  gave  them  all 
hopes  of  being  made  citizens  of  Rome  if  they  remained 
faithful.  So  the  Latins  began  to  forget  that  they  had 
been  conquered,  and  were  proud  of  being  ruled  by 
Rome.  Rome  learned  in  this  way  how  to  bind  to 
herself  the  people  she  conquered,  so  that  they  seldom 
tried  to  rebel.  You  must  remember  that  later  on  she 
always  did  the  same  things  after  a war : she  separated 
the  towns  she  had  won  from  one  another,  and  made 
them  all  hope  that  she  would  reward  them  if  they  were 
only  true  to  her. 

15.  Second  Samnite  War. — It  was  well  for 
Rome  that  she  had  made  the  Latins  contented,  for  in 
■527  began  the  second  Samnite  war,  which  lasted  till 
305,  for  twenty-two  years.  It,  was  a war  in  which 
both  sides  fought  hard,  for  they  knew  that  the  people 
which  won  would  be  the  chief  state  in  Italy.  The 
Samnites  had  a very  brave  general,  called  Caius 
Pontius,  who  once  very  nearly  destroyed  the  Roman 
army.  He  made  his  army  pretend  to  run  away, 
and  the  Remans  followed  him  by  the  shortest  way, 
till  they  were  shut  up  in  a valley,  with  the  Samnites 
all  around  them,  and  could  not  get  out.  They  had 
to  surrender  to  Pontius,  and  he  made  peace  with 
them,  and  let  them  go  free.  But  the  Romans  at 
home  would  not  hear  of  the  peace;  they  said  that 
no  peace  was  rightly  made  except  by  the  Senate, 
*nd  they  sent  back  as  prisoners  to  Pontius  the 


5° 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap. 


consuls  who  had  made  the  peace.  Pontius  said 
he  might  have  killed  all  the  army,  if  he  had  chosen, 
and  then  he  could  have  forced  them  to  make  peace  : 
now,  if  they  would  not  have  peace,  let  them  put  their 
army  back  again  in  the  pass  of  Caudium.  But  the 
Romans  refused,  saying  they  had  sent  him  the  consuls 
who  had  done  the  wrong,  and  that  was  all  they  were 
bound  to  do.  Pontius  sent  the  consuls  back,  and  the 
war  went  on.  The  Romans  did  not  act  fairly  in  this, 
but  they  were  always  a people  who  thought  they  had 
done  their  duty  if  they  kept  the  letter  of  the  law. 

As  the  war  went  on,  the  Etruscans  became  frightened 
of  Rome’s  power,  and  helped  the  Samnites,  but  they 
too  were  beaten.  At  last,  in  304,  the  Samnites  were 
obliged  to  lay  down  their  arms. 

id.  Third  Samnite  War. — But  peace  did  not 
last  long,  for  in  300  began  the  third  Samnite  war.  All 
the  peoples  of  Italy,  who  up  to  this  time  had  been 
fighting  against  one  another,  were  now  drawn  together 
by  a common  dread  of  Rome,  and  so  this  war  was  a 
desperate  struggle  of  Samnites,  Etruscans,  and  Gauls  to 
shake  off  the  power  of  Rome.  A great  battle  was 
fought  in  295  at  Sentinum,  in  which  the  Romans  beat 
them  all.  Two  years  afterwards  the  brave  leader  of 
the  Samnites,  Caius  Pontius,  was  taken  prisoner  by 
the  Romans,  who  had  no  pity  for  him,  but  put  him  to 
death.  The  Romans  always  showed  themselves  with- 
out mercy  for  those  who  rose  against  them,  and  this 
was  another  reason  why  the  towns  they  conquered  did 
not  often  rise  again. 

17.  Wars  with  the  Greek  cities. — Now,  the  last 
Samnite  war  had  settled  that  Rome  was  to  be  mistresf 
of  all  southern  Italy.  She  had  subdued  the  Samnites 
and  Etruscans,  and  had  driven  back  the  Gauls,  and 
there  were  only  some  Greek  cities  in  the  south  to 
stand  against  her.  These  cities  had  once  been  very 
powerful,  and  were  still  very  rich,  in  fact  so  rich 
that  they  did  not  care  about  fighting  for  themselves. 
One  of  the  most  important  of  these  cities  was 


11  I JJ OH'  ROME  BECAME  MISTRESS  OF  ITALY.  31 

Tarentum,  on  the  great  gulf  of  Tarentum,  which  is 
in  the  south  of  Italy.  The  Romans  had  been  helping 
some  of  the  other  cities  near  Tarentum  against  theii 
enemies,  and  the  people  of  Tarentum  were  very 


jealous  of  Rome’s  power.  One  day  the  people  were 
all  sitting  in  the  theatre,  which  was  in  the  open  air, 
and  had  its  seats  looking  towards  the  sea.  They 
were  listening  to  one  of  those  plays  of  which  the 
Greeks  were  so  fond,  when  suddenly  they  saw  ten 
Roman  ships  sail  close  to  the  harbour  of  Tarentum. 
In  a rage  they  rushed  to  their  ships,,  attacked  the 
Romans,  and  destroyed  half  of  them.  So  the  war 
began  in  the  year  282. 

18.  War  with  Pyrrhus. — But  the  Tarentincs 
were  afraid  of  fighting  for  themselves,  and  there  was 
no  people  in  Italy  strong  enough  to  fight  against 
Rome.  So  they  turned  to  Greece,  and  asked  help 
from  Pyrrhus,  King  of  Epirus,  w'hich  was  on  the  west 
3* 


ja  ROMAN  HISTORY.  [chap. 

coast  of  Greece,  and  tRe  nearest  part  to  Italy.  Pyrrlius 
was  very  glad  to  come  and  help  them  : for  he  was 
young,  and  wished  to  be  a great  conqueror : he  was 
a good  general,  and  brought  a large  army  of  good 
soldiers.  It  was  a serious  thing  for  the  Romans 
to  begin  to  fight  with  nations  who  lived  outside  oi 
Italy,  but  they  had  to  do  it  in  their  own  defence. 

In  280  Pyrrhus  landed  in  Italy  with  a large  arroy 
The  Romans  who  went  against  him  were  defeated  al 
Heraclea,  on  the  little  river  Siris  : their  cavalry  was 
not  nearly  so  good  as  that  of  the  Greeks,  and  their 
horses  were  frightened  at  the  sight  of  some  elephants 
which  the  Greeks  had  brought  with  them.  But 
though  Pyrrhus  won  the  battle,  he  lost  so  many 
men  that  he  said,  “ A few  more  such  victories,  and 
I am  ruined.”  So  he  sent  to  Rome  to  try  and  make 
peace  on  good  terms  for  himself  and  Tarentum.  He 
sent  a very  clever  man,  called  Cineas,  who  almost  per- 
suaded the  Senate ; but  a Roman  noble,  who  had 
been  consul  and  censor,  but  was  now  old  and  blind, 
had  himself  carried  to  the  senate-house,  and  with 
his  dying  breath  begged  them  never  to  make  peace 
so  long  as  Pyrrhus  stayed  in  Italy.  Then  the  Senate 
sent  Cineas  away  with  this  answer ; and  when  he 
came  to  Pyrrhus  he  said,  “ It  is  useless  to  fight  with 
Rome,  for  its  Senate  is  an  assembly  of  kings.”  Next 
year  Pyrrhus  defeated  the  Romans  again,  but  they 
would  not  give  way.  So  Pyrrhus  went  over  to  Sicily, 
and  fought  there  for  two  years.  Then  when  he  came 
back  his  army  was  much  weaker.  The  Romans 
meanwhile  had  been  learning  to  improve  their  cavalry, 
and  to  fight  against  elephants  : and  they  could  meet 
Pyrrhus  more  equally.  So  in  275  a battle  was  fought 
at  Beneventum,  in  which  Pyrrhus  was  beaten  by  the 
Romans.  He  had  to  go  back  again  to  Epirus,  having 
lost  almost  all  his  troops.  His  hopes  of  conquest 
were  at  an  end,  and  three  years  afterwards  he  was 
killed  in  Greece  by  a stone  thro'wn  on  his  head  by 
% woman  while  he  was  besieging  Argos. 


n.]  HOW  ROME  BECAME  MISTRESS  OF  ITAL  K 33 

19.  Rome’s  Government  of  Italy. — After 
Pyn'hus  had  been  driven  away,  Rome  had  no  diffi 
culty  in  taking  all  south  Italy.  And  now  Rome 
ruled  all  south  of  a line  drawn  between  the  little 
river  Macra  on  the  west  coast,  and  the  Rubicon  on 
the  east  coast.  North  of  this  lay  Gaul.  Rome  was 
herself  a city,  and  she  ruled  over  the  cities  which 
she  had  taken,  for  the  country  in  Italy  was  all  divided 
into  districts  belonging  to  the  cities.  The  state  of 
things,  then,  in  Italy  was  this  : the  citizens  of  Rome 
governed  all  the  rest,  and  every  one  wished  to  become 
a citizen  of  Rome.  Next  to  the  Romans  came  the 
Latins,  who  had  some  of  the  rights  of  Roman  citizen 
ship,  and  hoped  to  get  the  other  rights  in  time.  Then 
below  the  Latins  came  the  Italians,  who  governed 
their  own  cities  in  which  they  lived,  but  had  to  obey 
Rome,  and  serve  in  Rome’s  armies  when  they  were 
wanted. 

There  were  two  ways  by  which  Rome  kept  Italy 
under  her  power.  You  must  notice  them,  as  they  are 
the  ways  which  she  always  used  afterwards  with  her 
conquests.  The  ways  were  these  : 

(i.)  She  founded  colonies. 

(2.)  She  made  roads. 

20.  Rome’s  Colonies. — (i.)  Colonies,  a.syovLVno\v, 
are  setilements  made  in  foreign  countries.  The  Ro- 
mans took  some  of  the  land  of  the  people  they  con- 
quered in  Italy,  and  sent  some  Roman  citizens  to  live 
■m  it,  and  form  themselves  into  a state.  Thus  a 
jiumber  of  little  Romes  were  scattered  about  Italy  : 
ind  Rome  could  always  trust  her  colonists,  as  a 
Roman  never  forgot  Rome.  These  colonies  were 
ilmost  garrisons  to  keep  the  Italians  in  order : but 
they  were  much  better  than  garrisons  of  soldiers, 
for  they  were  garrisons  of  peaceful  men,  who  worked 
hard  at  their  fanns,  and  taught  others  to  do  so  as 
well.  Thus  the  Italians  learned  to  know  the  Romans, 
and  tried  to  be  like  them,  and  were  content  to  be 
governed  by  Rome. 


34 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[CHiU*. 


21.  Roman  Roads. — (2.)  The  Romans  were  great 
makers  of  roads.  They  made  them  so  well  and 
so  strong  that  many  Roman  roads  still  remain  in 
use  at  the  present  day.  These  roads  went  from 
Rome  to  different  parts  of  Italy,  and  so  Rome  could 
send  soldiers  where  they  were  wanted,  and  could  get 
news  quickly.  This  was  very  useful  as  a way  of 
keeping  order.  You  will  see  from  the  map  how 
they  were  spread  over  Italy,  and  served  as  so  many 
chains  by  which  Rome  fastened  other  cities  to  herself. 


22.  Character  of  the  old  Romans.— In  tlik 
way,  then,  Rome  governed  Italy.  And  these  dajs  o4 
her  wars  with  the  Samnites  and  with  Pyrrhus  were  her 
most  flourishing  days.  For  the  Romans  still  had  to 
work  hard,  and  had  not  yet  grown  rich  ; so  they  were 
honest  and  brave  and  noble.  Many  stories  are  told 
showing  how  simply  the  old  Romans  lived.  Their 
great  generals  and  statesmen  were  no  grander  than 


II.]  ROME'S  WARS  WITH  CARTHAGE.  35 

Other  people,  and  when  presents  were  sent  them, 
they  used  to  refuse  to  take  them.  Thus,  the  Sam- 
nites  sent  a present  of  gold  to  a great  Roman  general, 
Manius  Curius.  The  messengers  found  him  at  his 
farm,  cooking  his  own  dinner,  which  was  a turnip 
roasted  in  the  ashes  of  his  fire : and  he  had  only  a 
wooden  dish  to  eat  it  on.  When  the  Samnites 
brought  out  their  gold,  Curius  refused  to  take  it, 
saying,  “It  is  more  glorious  not  to  have  gold,  but 
to  have  power  over  those  who  have  it.” 

But  the  time  was  soon  to  come  when  the  Romans 
were  to  grow  rich  in  foreign  wars,  and  their  simple 
life  would  last  no  longer. 


CHAPTER  III. 

ROME’S  WARS  WITH  CARTHAGE. 

Only  eleven  years  after  Pyrrhus  had  gone,  the  Romans 
were  engaged  in  another  war  with  foreigners,  with  the 
Carthaginians. 

I.  Origin  of  Carthage. — Carthage,  as  you  will 
see  on  the  map,  was  a town  on  the  north  coast  of 
Afnca,  at  the  point  w'here  the  African  coast  is,  nearest 
to  Sicily.  Carthage  itself  was  a colony  of  the  Phoe- 
nicians, who  lived  on  the  coast  of  Syria  just  above 
Palestine,  and  whose  great  towns  were  Tyre  and 
Sidon.  These  Phoenicians  were  the  same  people 
as  the  Canaanites  who  had  been  driven  out  by  the 
Israelites  from  Palestine.  They  spoke  Hebrew,  and 
so  belonged  to  the  same  great  Semitic  race  to  which 
the  Jews  also  belonged.  In  old  times  they  had 
been  great  traders ; their  ships  are  said  to  have 
sailed  as  far  as  Gaul,  and  got  tin  overland  from 
Britain.  Carthage  is  said  to  have  been  founded  as  a 
colony  of  Tyre  about  100  years  before  the  foundation 
of  Rome,  but  it  grew  into  power  sooner  than  Rome 
did,  because  it  was  engaged  in  trade.  Carthage  was 
like  Rome  in  not  being  ruled  by  a king,  but  it  was 


KOMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap 


36 

ruled  by  its  nobles,  who  were  very  rich  from  the 
money  they  gained  in  trade.  All  the  western  half  ol 
the  north  coast  of  Africa  had  been  conquered  by 
Carthage,’  but  the  conquered  people  were  not  treated 
by  them  so  well  as  the  Italians  were  by  Rome.  You 
1^1  see  how  important  this  was  in  the  great  war  thal 
ras  now  coming  on. 


2.  Carthaginians  in  Sicily. — It  was  in  Sicily  thal 
the  Romans  and  Carthaginians  first  met  one  another  ; 
it  was  very  natural  that  they  should  do  so,  as  the 
Island  of  Sicily  lies  between  Italy  and  Carthage.  The 
Sicels,  who  gave  their  name  to  Sicily,  were  an  Italian 
people,  very  like  the  Latins  at  first.  But  the  Greeks 
planted  colonies  in  Sicily  as  early  as  735,  and  the 
Sicels  learned  to  be  like  the  Greeks.  These  Greeks 
were  great  traders  as  well  as  the  Carthaginians,  so  the 
two  were  always  fighting,  especially  as  the  Carthaginians 
settled  on  the  west  coast  of  Sicily  and  tried  to  drive 


ROME’S  WARS  WITH  CARJHAGE. 


37 


out  the  Greeks.  Thus,  while  Rome  was  carrying  on 
her  early  wars  in  Italy,  there  was  constant  fighting  in 
Sicily  between  the  Carthaginians  and  the  Greeks,  under 
the  tyrants  or  kings  of  Syracuse. 

3.  First  Punic  War. — The  cause  of  these  PJux- 
nician,  or  Putiic  wars,  as  the  wars  with  Carthage  are 
called,  was  this.  Some  Italian  pirates  had  settled  ii 
Messana,  the  nearest  city  in  Sicily  to  Italy.  Both  the 
Greeks  and  Carthaginians  wished  to  drive  them  out, 
so  the  pirates  called  to  Rome  for  help,  and  Rome,  not 
wishing  the  Carthaginians  to  take  Messana,  sent  helpj 
so  a war  began  which  was  to  last  for  twenty-two  years 
(264-241). 

The  Romans  had  no  ships,  while  the  Carthaginians, 
as  being  great  traders,  had  a large  fleet.  But  the 
Romans  had  a better  army  on  land,  as  every  Roman 
was  a soldier,  and  the  Italians  who  were  in  Rome’s 
array  fought  willingly  for  Rome.  The  Carthaginians 
sent  generals  only  of  their  own  with  an  army  hired 
from  the  peoples  under  their  rule,  who  cared  for 
nothing  but  their  pay. 

4.  Growth  of  Rome’s  Navy. — At  first,  when  the 
war  was  carried  on  in  Sicily,  the  Romans  drove  back  the 
Carthaginians,  and  compelled  the  Greek  king  of  Syra- 
cuse to  make  peace,  and  ally  himself  with  them  instead 
of  with  Carthage.  But  the  Carthaginian  ships  did  so 
much  harm  to  the  Italian  coast  that  the  Romans  saw 
they  could  do  nothing  till  they  also  had  a fleet.  It 
happened  that  a Carthaginian  ship  was  wrecked  on 
the  shore  of  Italy.  So  the  Romans  took  it  as  a model, 
and  began  to  build  ships  like  it.  And  at  the  same 
time  that  they  were  building  the  ships,  they  began  tc 
train  rowers.  Ships  in  those  days  were  rowed  by  men 
arranged  in  rows  one  above  the  other : and  in  large 
ships  of  war  there  were  five  such  rows, — so  that  it 
required  some  practice  before  the  ships  could  be  used. 
In  260  the  new  fleet  put  to  sea.  The  Romans  knew 
they  could  conquer  if  they  could  only  have  a chance 
of  close  fighting : so  they  had  long  wooden  bridge! 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap. 


38 

fastened  to  their  masts,  with  a spike  at  the  end. 
When  their  ships  came  near  enough  to  the  Carthaginian 
ships,  the  bridge  was  let  fall,  and  the  spike  fixed  it  in 
the  deck  of  the  ship  on  which  it  fell.  Then  the  Roman 
soldiers  ran  on  board  the  Carthaginian  ship,  and  easily 
took  it.  By  this  means  the  Romans,  though  they 
were  not  good  seamen,  won  two  great  battles  at  sea  in 
the  next  four  years. 

5.  Regulus  in  Africa  (256). — Made  bold  by  this, 
the  Roman  consul,  Marcius  Regulus,  sailed  to  Africa, 
and  plundered  all  the  country.  The  Carthaginians 
were  very  frightened,  and  offered  to  make  peace,  but 
Regulus  would  have  nothing  but  entire  submission. 
Then  the  Carthaginians  gathered  an  army,  and  fell  upon 
the  Romans  and  defeated  them,  and  took  Regulus 
prisoner.  Still  the  war  went  on  as  before  in  Sicily, 
and  in  250  the  Romans  won  a battle,  and  took 
prisoners  some  Carthaginian  nobles.  The  Cartha- 
ginians, wishing  to  get  them  back,  sent  Regulus  to 
Rome,  and  made  him  promise  that,  if  he  did  not  make 
an  exchange  of  prisoners,  he  would  come  back  to 
Carthage.  Regulus  thought  that  the  Romans  would 
lose  by  the  exchange,  and  he  boldly  said  so,  and  ad- 
vised the  Senate  not  to  make  it.  So  they  refused,  and 
Regulus  nobly  kept  his  word,  and  left  his  wife  and 
children  and  friends  in  Rome,  and  went  back  to  die  in 
prison  at  Carthage. 

6.  End  of  the  First  Punic  War. — ^The  war 
dragged  on  till  241,  when  the  Romans  won  a great; 
victory  at  sea.  The  Carthaginians  were  tired,  and 
wished  for  peace  : there  had  arisen  also  amongst  them 
i great  general,  Hamilcar,  sumamed  Barca,  or  Light- 
ning, who  saw  that  Carthage  must  have  some  time  of 
quiet,  in  which  she  might  train  soldiers  who  could  fight 
the  Romans  on  land.  So  the  Carthaginians  made 
peace,  and  agreed  to  pay  Rome  a large  sum  of  money, 
and  to  leave  her  Sicily.  Peace  was  therefore  made, 
but  neither  side  meant  that  it  should  last  long : both 
wanted  time  to  get  ready  for  a new  war. 


ROME’S  WARS  WITH  CARTHAGE. 


39 


iiiO 

7,  Rome’s  first  Province. — Rome  had  now 
gained  her  first  possession  outside  Italy,  that  is,  Sicily. 
A few  years  afterw^ards  she  forced  the  Carthaginians  to 
give  up  to  her  the  islands  of  Sardinia  and  Corsica. 
She  did  not  treat  the  people  of  Sicily  in  the  same 
way  as  she  had  ’treated  the  people  of  Italy.  But 
she  made  Sicily  what  was  called  a province,  which 
meant,  a country  governed  by  a Roman  magistrate. 
The  people  of  Sicily,  then,  had  no  share  in  the  govern- 
ment of  Rome,  nor  had  they  any  hope  of  ever  having 
any : they  were  not  the  allies  of  Rome,  but  her  subjects. 
They  were  governed  by  magistrates  sent  every  year 
from  Rome,  and  they  had  to  pay  tribute  to  Rome, 
that  is,  a sort  of  rent  for  their  land. 

This  w'ay  of  governing  Sicily  was  afterwards  used 
by  Rome  for  all  the  peoples  she  conquered : so  you 
must  remember  it  carefully.  Rome  governed  the 
Latins  in  one  w'ay,  the  Italians  in  another,  and  the 
people  of  the  provinces  in  a third. 

8.  Carthaginians  in  Spain. — We  saw  that  the 
first  war  ■with  Carthage  came  to  an  end  because  both 
sides  were  tired,  and  because  Hamilcar  wanted  to  get 
an  army  ready,  with  which  he  might  fight  the  Romans. 
He  got  the  Carthaginians  to  send  him  to  Spain,  and 
there  he  taught  his  soldiers  how  to  fight  hard : foi 
Spain  was  full  of  tribes  of  poor  and  brave  men,  who 
fought  very  hard  before  they  were  conquered.  Before 
Hamilcar  left  Carthage  he  offered  a great  sacrifice  to 
the  gods ; and  as  he  was  offering,  he  called  his  young 
son  Hannibal,  who  was  only  nine  years  old,  and 
asked  him  if  he  would  like  to  go  to  the  war.  Hanni- 
bal said  “Yes.”  “Then,”  said  his  father,  “swear  on 
this  altar  that  you  will  never  be  the  friend  of  the 
Roman  people.”  And  the  boy  swore  it,  and  went 
with  his  father,  and  you  ■will  see  how  he  never  forgot 
his  promise. 

Hamilcar  fought  in  Spain  till  he  died,  and  con- 
quered for  Carthage  aU  Spain  up  to  the  river  Tagus. 
When  he  died  his  son-in-law  Hasdnibal  went  on  -with 


4-0 


ROMAN  HISTOR  Y. 


[chap. 


his  conquests,  till  he  was  killed  in  221,  and  Hannibal 
became  general  of  the  army  at  the  age  of  twenty-six. 

The  Romans  meanwhile  had  not  been  idle : they 
had  had  a great  war  with  the  Gauls  in  the  north, 
and  had  driven  them  back  to  the  great  river  of 
north  Italy,  the  Padus,  or  Po.  They  had  also  made 
1 treaty  with  Carthage,  that  she  should  not  conquer 
in  Spain  north  of  the  river  Iberus,  which  is  now  called 
Ebro. 

9.  How  the  Second  Punic  War  began. — In 
the  year  219  Hannibal  thought  he  was  fit  to  fight  the 
Romans,  and  he  began  his  great  war  with  them,  which 
lasted  for  seventeen  years  (219-202).  The  way  in  which 
he  begun  it  was  this.  There  was  a city  on  the  east 
coast  of  Spain,  called  Saguntum,  which  was  a colony 
of  the  Greeks.  Saguntum  was  afraid  of  the  power 
of  Carthage,  and  had  made  a treaty  with  Rome,  that 
she  should  be  Rome’s  ally.  But  Hannibal  quarrelled 
with  Saguntum,  and  besieged  it,  and  the  people  fought 
hard  against  him.  At  last,  after  a siege  of  eight 
months,  the  chief  men  of  the  city,  seeing  they  could 
hold  out  no  longer,  lit  a great  fire,  and  threw  into  it 
all  their  treasures,  and  last  of  all  threw  themselves  in 
as  well.  So  Saguntum  was  taken.  Then  the  Romans 
sent  to  Carthage  to  complain,  and  one  of  their  ambas- 
sadors came  before  the  Carthaginian  senate  holding 
his  cloak  together  as  if  he  were  carrying  something  in 
it : and  he  said,  “ I bring  you  peace  or  war ; take 
which  you  like.”  The  Carthaginians  said,  “Give  us 
which  you  will.”  Then  he  shook  his  cloak  open  and 
said,  “ I give  you  war.”  And  the  Carthaginians 
shouted  and  said,  “ So  let  it  be.” 

10.  Hannibal’s  plans. — Now,  Harmibal  did  not 
mean  to  fight  this  war  by  sea,  but  he  meant  to  march 
his  army  at  once  into  Italy,  and  attack  the  Romans  in 
their  own  country.  He  thought  that  the  Gauls,  who 
had  so  lately  been  conquered  by  Rome,  would  dislike 
her  ven'  much,  and  would  be  ready  to  rise  up  against  her. 
He  thought  also  that  if  he  beat  the  Romans  in  one  01 


III.]  ROME’S  IVARS  WITH  CARTHAGE  4, 

two  battles,  all  the  Italians  would  come  to  his  side 
and  so  Rome  would  have  to  give  in. 

11.  Hannibal’s  difficulties. — It  was  hard,  how 
ever,  to  get  into  Italy  at  all,  for  he  had  first  to  go  across 
the  Pyrenees  mountains  to  get  out  of  Spain;  then  he 
had  to  cross  the  great  river  Rhodanus  (Rhone),  which 
was  not  easy  to  do,  as  the  river  is  very  swift,  and  the 
Gaulish  tribes  on  this  side  of  the  Alps,  who  did  not 
like  Hannibal  to  march  through  their  country,  tried 
to  prevent  him.  Then  he  had  to  fight  his  way 
through  these  Gauls  till  he  came  to  the  Alps ; and 
then  he  had  to  go  with  his  army  through  the  cold, 
and  snow,  and  ice,  and  all  the  dangers  which  there 
are  in  crossing  those  high  mountains.  All  this  had 
to  be  done  before  he  could  reach  the  country  of  the 
Cisalpine  Gauls,  which  we  now  call  Lombardy,  and 
the  Romans  also  were  sure  to  try  and  prevent  him. 

It  is  because  he  had  all  these  difficulties  to  get  over 
that  Hannibal’s  march  to  Italy  is  so  very  famous. 
The  Romans  might  have  attacked  him  while  he  was 
among  the  Gauls,  %vho  dwell  west  of  the  Alps,  and  so 
he  would  never  have  got  into  Italy  at  all.  But  he  was 
too  quick  for  them,  and  got  on  so  much  faster  than 
the  Romans  thought  he  would,  that  they  always  came 
too  late.  Thus,  the  Roman  army  came  to  the  Rhodanus 
just  three  days  after  Hannibal  had  crossed  it,  so  they 
had  to  go  away  and  wait  for  him  in  Cisalpine  Gaul,  or 
Lombardy. 

12.  Hannibal’s  march  to  Italy. — Hannibal 
crossed  the  Rhodanus  very  quickly;  in  two  days  he  got 
together  all  the  boats  he  wanted  to  take  his  soldiers 
across.  The  Gauls  were  on  the  opposite  shore  to  pre- 
vent him  from  landing.  So  he  sent  some  soldiers  by 
night  to  go  farther  up  the  river,  and  cross  where  the 
Gauls  did  not  see  them.  Then  he  moored  all  his  large 
boats  so  as  to  break  the  force  o*^  the  stream,  and  put  his 
men  in  smaller  boats,  with  the  horses  swimming  by  the 
side.  So  Hannibal  waited  till  he  saw  some  smoke  rising 
behind  the  Gauls,  for  this  was  the  sign  that  his  soldiers 


Hannibars  March  to  Italv. 


CH.  III.]  ROME'S  WARS  WITH  CARTHAGE. 


43 


who  had  been  sent  before  had  got  across  Then  he 
told  all  his  men  to  row  hard  at  their  boats ; as  they 
got  to  the  shore  the  Gauls  rushed  on  them,  but  they 
heard  a shout  behind,  and  saw  their  tents  on  fire,  and 
the  soldiers  of  Hannibal  coming  against  them  where 
they  did  not  expect  it.  They  were  afraid,  and  ran 
away,  so  the  soldiers  landed  easily.  It  was  a much 
harder  thing  for  Hannibal  to  march  up  the  Alps,  for 
the  people  of  the  mountains  rolled  down  great  stones 
upon  his  troops,  and  attacked  them  from  behind  when 
they  were  not  expecting.  But  even  this  was  not  so 
bad  as  the  cold,  and  the  dangers  of  the  snow  and  ice. 
These  were  most  felt  on  the  way  down  into  Cisalpine 
Gaul ; the  paths,  being  only  made  of  ice,  broke  away, 
and  men  slipped  down  the  steep  sides  of  the  mountain 
and  were  killed.  You  may  think  how  hard  a march 
this  was,  when  you  know  that  Hannibal  had  59,000 
men  when  he  crossed  the  Rhodanus,  and  when  he  got 
to  the  bottom  of  the  Alps  he  had  only  26,000  men. 

13.  Hannibal  defeats  the  Romans. — You  may 
suppose  the  Romans  wanted  to  stop  him  as  soon  as 
possible,  for  the  Cisalpine  Gauls,  who  lived  along  the 
valleys  of  the  Padus  or  Po,  as  Hannibal  had  hoped, 
began  to  join  his  army.  The  first  battle  was  fought 
(218)  on  the  river  Ticinus,  which  runs  into  the  Padus 
from  the  north.  The  Romans  were  driven  back,  and 
Hannibal  passed  the  Padus.  Meanwhile  another 
Roman  army  had  come  up,  and  its  general,  the  consul, 
Tiberius  Sempronius  Longus,  wanted  to  fight  at  once. 
The  little  river  of  the  Trebbia  lay  between  the  two 
armies,  and  on  a cold  morning  the  Roman  general 
marched  his  soldiers  through  the  water  against  Han- 
nibal. The  Romans  were  entirely  beaten,  and  driven 
out  of  Gaul. 

All  northern  Italy  had  thus  passed  under  Hannibal’s 
power,  and  its  people  were  his  friends ; so  next  year, 
217,  Hannibal  went  into  Etruria,  and  marched  south 
towards  Rome  itself,  plundering  as  he  went.  The 
Roman  consul,  Caius  Flaminius  Nepos,  went  to  meet 


♦4 


ROM  Ah  HISTORY. 


[CHAF. 


him,  and  a battle  was  fought  on  the  shores  of  the  Lake 
T rasimenus.  It  was  a misty  day,  and  the  Romans, 
who^  were  marching  after  Hannibal,  were  surrounded 
by  him  and  taken  by  surprise : they  were  entirely 
beaten,  and  the  consul  was  killed  in  battle.  Then  tlie 
Romans  were  in  great  distress,  and  elected  a dictator, 
Quintus  Fabius  Maximus.  He  saw  that  it  was  no  use 
to  fight  battles  with  Hannibal,  so  he  followed  him 
about,  and  watched  him,  and  did  little  thing.s  against 
him  when  he  could  : so  he  was  called  Cundalor,  or 
the  Delayer. 

14.  Battle  of  Cannae. — But,  although  this  plan  of 
waiting  was  very  useful,  the  Romans  did  not  like  it, 
for  Hannibal  was  left  to  plunder  as  he  thought  fit,  and 
there  was  always  danger  that  the  other  Italians  would 
join  him  against  Rome.  So  next  year,  216,  the 
Romans  made  a great  attempt  to  get  rid  of  him.  They 
sent  both  the  consuls  with  an  army  twice  as  large  as 
Hannibal’s,  but  again  they  were  defeated  at  Cannae. 
They  lost  70,000  naen,  while  Hannibal  only  lost  6,000: 
all  their  best  soldiers  were  killed,  and  it  seemed  as 
though  they  had  no  hope  left. 

15.  Rome’s  strength  in  the  war. — But  nations 
are  not  conquered  only  by  the  loss  of  battles.  Hanni- 
bal hoped,  after  the  battle  of  Cannae,  that  the  Italians 
would  all  come  to  his  side,  and  leave  Rome.  Some  did 
so,  but  all  the  Latin  cities,  and  all  the  Roman  colonies 
held  by  Rome.  So  long  as  this  was  the  nase,  Rome 
was  not  yet  conquered.  Hannibal  could  win  battles 
very  quickly,  but  it  would  take  him  a long  time  to 
besiege  all  the  cities  that  still  held  to  Rome,  and  for 
that  he  must  have  a larger  army.  But  he  could  not 
get  more  soldiers, — the  Romans  had  sent  an  army  into 
Spain,  and  Hannibal’s  brother,  Hasdrubal,  was  busy 
fighting  the  Romans  there,  and  could  not  send  any 
troops  to  Italy.  The  Carthaginians  also  would  not 
send  any,  for  they  were  becoming  afraid  of  Hannibal, 
and  they  did  not  know  anything  about  Italy.  So  they 
answered  his  letters,  asking  for  more  men,  by  saying, 


ROME’S  WARS  WITH  CARTHAGE. 


rii.] 


45 


that  if  he  had  won  such  great  battles,  he  ought  not 
to  want  any  more  troops. 

At  Cannae,  then,  Hannibal  had  struck  his  greatest 
blow : he  could  do  no  more.  The  Romans  had 
learned  to  wait,  and  be  careful  : so  they  fought  no 
more  great  battles,  but  every  year  they  grew  stronger 
and  Hannibal  grew  weaker.  The  chief  town  that 
had  gone  over  to  Hanriibal’s  side  was  Capua,  but 
in  21 1 the  Romans  took  it  again,  and  Hannibal 
was  not  strong  enough  to  prevent  them.  The  chief 
men  of  Capua  were  so  afraid  of  falling  into  the  hands 
of  the  Romans  that  they  all  poisoned  themselves. 
After  this  all  the  Italians  cities  that  had  joined  Han- 
nibal began  to  leave  him  again. 

16.  Defeat  of  Hasdrubal. — At  last,  in  207,  Has- 
drubal  managed  to  leave  Spain  and  march  across  the 
Alps,  bringing  help  to  his  brother.  He  marched  along 
the  east  coast  of  Italy  to  join  Hannibal  in  the  south. 
But  his  messengers  to  tell  his  brother  that  he  was 
coming  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans : and 
the  consul,  Caius  Claudius  Nero,  who  was  watching 
Hannibal  in  the  south,  marched  up  secretly  to  join 
the  other  consul  in  the  north.  Then  Hasdrubal  was 
defeated  and  killed  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Metaurus, 
and  Nero  marched  back  again  and  threw  Hasdrubal’s 
head  into  Hannibal’s  camp.  It  was  the  first  news 
he  had  had  that  his  brother  was  in  Italy,  and  it  told 
him  that  now  he  could  never  hope  to  conquer  Rome. 

17.  Rise  of  Scipio. — Still  Hannibal  did  not  leave 
Italy,  nor  did  the  Romans  try  to  drive  him  out,  but 
they  carried  on  the  war  elsewhere,  and  at  last  found 
z general  who  was  a match  for  Hannibal.  In  209 
Publius  Cornelius  Scipio,  whose  father  and  grand- 
father had  been  Roman  generals,  was  sent  to  Spain  : 
there  he  w’on  over  the  people,  by  his  kindness,  from 
the  side  of  Carthage  to  that  of  Rome.  After  Hasdnibal’s 
death  the  Romans  grew  still  stronger  in.  Spain,  and 
in  206  the  Carthaginians  were  entirely  driven  out 
bv  Scinio. 


46 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[CHAP. 


1 8.  Battle  of  Zama. — When  Scipio  came  back  to 
Rome  he  had  made  a plan  for  invading  Africa,  so  he 
got  himself  made  consul,  and  landed  in  Africa  in  204. 
He  destroyed  the  Carthaginian  army,  by  setting  fire 
to  their  tents  by  night,  and  killing  them  as  they  tried 
to  run  away.  After  this  loss  the  Carthaginians  were 
forced  to  send  for  Hannibal  out  of  Italy.  In  202  a 
great  battle  was  fought  between  him  and  Scipio  at 
Zama,  The  battle  was  long  and  bloody,  but  Scipio 
had  better  cavalry,  and  they  drove  away  Hannibal’s 
cavalry,  and  then  fell  upon  his  infantry  in  the  rear. 
This  was  nearly  all  cut  to  pieces,  and  Hannibal’s 
army  was  destroyed. 

19.  End  of  Hannibal. — After  this,  of  course,  Car- 
thage had  to  make  peace ; she  had  to  pay  great  sums 
of  money  to  Rome,  and  promised  never  again  to  make 
war  without  asking  leave  from  Rome.  Hannibal  still 
tried  to  help  his  country,  but  the  Romans  were  afraid 
of  him ; so  he  was  forced  to  flee  from  Carthage,  and 
then  went  from  one  king  to  another  till  he  died. 
All  the  kings  were  afraid  to  have  him  in  their  land, 
for  they  knew  the  Romans  would  not  like  it.  So  he 
was  himted  about,  and  at  last  took  poison,  that  he 
might  not  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans  (183). 

20.  Effects  of  the  war. — This  war  between  the 
Romans  and  Hannibal  was  one  of  the  greatest  wars 
the  world  has  ever  seen.  It  was  a war  between  a 
great  man  and  a great  nation.  The  Romans  won 
because  they  were  strong  enough  to  live  through  the 
war.  Hannibal  thought  tha*-  the  Italians  would  all 
be  on  his  side,  but  when  he  found  that  the  best  of 
them  held  by  the  Romans,  he  began  to  lose  in 
strength.  Though  the  Romans  had  the  enemy  for 
sixteen  years  in  Italy,  they  could  still  send  armies 
elsewhere : but  the  Carthaginians  soon  had  to  give 
way  when  the  enemy  landed  in  their  country. 

This  war  had  two  important  effects  on  Rome : 

(i.)  It  made  her  the  chief  state  of  all  the  states  along 
the  Mediterranean  Sea,  She  had  begun  the  war  to 


III.]  HOW  ROME  CONQUERED  THE  EAST.  4^ 

defend  herself,  but  at  its  close  she  had  conquered 
Carthage  and  had  won  Spain.  She  became,  too,  a 
great  naval  state,  and  was  mistress  by  her  ships  of 
the  Mediterranean,  which  was  henceforth  to  be  her 
road  to  conquest 

• (2.)  When  Hannibal  had  left  Italy  Rome  was  ver} 
cruel  to  the  Italian  cities  which  had  joined  him,  Shr 
no  longer  treated  them  kindly,  but  made  them  he? 
subjects.  All  except  the  Latins  were  hardly  treated, 
and  even  the  Latins  soon  had  complaints  to  make 
against  Rome.  This  fierce  war  had  made  the  Romans 
more  cruel.  Also  it  had  driven  the  people  who  lived 
on  their  farms  in  the  country  into  the  towns,  and  never 
afterwards  do  you  find  so  many  farmers  in  Italy.  We 
shall  see  how  bad  this  was  as  we  go  on. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

HOW  ROME  CONQUERED  THE  EAST. 

r.  State  of  the  East. — The  end  of  the  war  with 
Hannibal  left  Rome  the  greatest  state  in  the  west: 
fifty  years  after  that  time  she  was  the  greatest  state  in 
the  east  also.  The  east  had  been  conquered  (334-323) 
by  Alexander  the  Great,  king  of  Macedonia  in  the 
north  of  Greece.  He  had  conquered  and  ruled  over 
Asia  Minor,  Persia,  S)rria,  Egypt,  and  even  parts  of 
India.  When  he  died,  all  these  countries  were  divided 
amongst  his  generals,  and  when  the  Romans  first  had 
anything  to  do  with  the  east,  there  were  three  great  king 
doms  : (i.)  Macedonia,  which  ruled  over  the  greater 
part  of  Greece.  (2.)  Syria,  which  ruled  over  Asia  Minor, 
though  there  was  there  a number  of  small  states. 
(3.)  Egypt,  which  was  very  rich,  and  traded  a great 
deal  from  its  capital,  Alexandria. 

2.  Conquest  of  Macedonia  and  Syria. — The 
first  of  these  with  whom  P . .me  went  to  war  was 
.Macedonia.  When  the  Romans  had  conquered  Hanni- 
bal, they  found  that  Philip,  king  of  Macedonia,  was 
4*  0 


ROMAN  HISTOR  Y. 


[chap 


;8 

becoming  too  powerful,  so  t?hen  Athens  asked  foi 
help  against  him,  Rome  began  the  second  Mace- 
donian war  (200).  In  197  tlie  Roman  general  Titus 
Quinctius  Flamininus  conquered  Philip  at  Cynos- 
cephalae,  and  made  Greece  free,  as  he  called  it ; but 
this  really  meant  that  the  Greek  towns  came  under  the 
power  of  Rome,  instead  of  being  under  that  of  Philip. 
It  was  not  long  before  the  second  of  these  great 
eastern  powers,  Syria,  was  conquered  by  the  Romans. 
Antiochus,  king  of  Syria,  was  obliged  in  190  to  give 
up  Asia  Minor,  and  all  the  kingdoms  of  Asia  Minor 
looked  up  to  Rome  as  their  head. 


3.  How  Rome  ruled  the  East. — By  these 
wars  Rome  had  conquered  the  kings  of  Macedonia 
and  S3uia,  and  had  taken  away  from  them  Greece  and 
Asia  Minor,  but  she  had  not  taken  Greece  or  Asia 
under  her  own  rule.  Rome  was  never  in  a hurry  to 
govern  the  countries  she  conquered.  She  left  weak 
kings  instead  of  strong  ones,  and  many  little  kingdoms 


/V.J  HOW  ROME  CONQUERED  THE  EAST. 


49 


instead  of  one  large  one,  and  then  these  small  kings 
had  to  do  what  Rome  told  them  to  do.  One  king 
went  to  war  against  another,  till  at  last  Rome  put  an 
end  to  them  all  without  any  trouble,  and  governed 
these  countries  herself.  The  next  years,  from  190  to 
133,  show  us  Rome  following  this  plan,  and  finishing 
the  conquests  she  had  begun.  Macedonia  was  made 
a Roman  province  in  148.  In  Asia  Minor  also  the 
Romans  favoured  the  kingdom  of  Pergamus,  which 
grew  larger,  and  its  king  did  what  the  Romans  wanted. 
At  last,  in  133,  King  Attains  III.  died,  and  left  Per- 
gamus to  the  Roman  people  by  his  will.  So  the 
Romans  made  Asia  into  a Roman  province,  and 
governed  it  themselves. 

4.  Conquest  of  Spain. — In  some  countries,  how- 
ever, the  Romans  found  it  hard  to  conquer  the  people 
entirely.  Spain  gave  them  a great  deal  of  trouble. 
Amongst  the  Lusitani,  who  lived  in  what  we  now  call 
Portugal,  there  rose  a hero,  called  Viriathus,  who  led 
his  countrymen  against  the  Romans.  He  was  only  a 
shepherd  when  he  began,  but  he  won  battle  after 
battle,  and  the  Lusitani  made  him  their  king.  For 
many  years  he  fought  against  the  Romans,  and  even 
forced  them  to  make  peace  with  him.  But  this  did 
not  last  long,  and  in  the  end  the  Roman  general, 
Quintus  Coepio,  bribed  three  of  the  friends  of  Viri- 
athus to  murder  him  while  he  was  asleep.  So,  too,  in 
the  north  of  Spain  the  city  of  Numantia  refiised  to 
open  its  gates  to  the  Romans,  and  fought  against  them 
for  many  years  (141-133).  At  last  the  Romans  had 
to  send  their  greatest  general,  Scipio  .^milianus  : and 
he  could  only  take  the  city  by  digging  a ditch  all 
round  it,  so  drat  no  one  could  go  in  or  come  out, 
till  at  last  the  Numantines  almost  died  of  hunger. 
Before  they  surrendered,  the  chief  men  killed  them- 
selves, and  when  the  gates  were  opened  a few  only 
came  out,  and  they  were  nearly  starved  to  death. 
Numantia  was  taken  in  123,  and  after  this  Spain  was 
made  into  Roman  nrovinces. 


5° 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap 


5.  Destruction  of  Carthage. — But  the  couuuy 
that  Kome  treated  most  hardly  was  Carthage.  Rome 
was  still  afraid  of  Carthage,  and  so  tried  to  hnd  a reason 
for  attacking  her.  After  the  second  Punic  war,  Rome 
had  taken  under  her  protection  Massinissa,  king  of 
Nurnidia,  which  was  the  country  next  to  Carthage.  Mas- 
sinissa went  to  war  with  Carthage,  and  the  Romans 
took  his  part,  in  149.  The  Carthaginians  knew  they 
could  not  fight  with  Rome,  so  they  offered  to  give 
up  everything.  First  Rome  asked  for  three  hundred 
boys  of  the  noblest  parents,  who  were  to  be  kept  at 
Rome,  to  make  sure  of  their  fathers’  obedience.  Then 
the  Romans  asked  for  all  the  arms  of  the  Cartha 
ginians,  and  these  also  were  given  up.  Last  of  all  the 
Roman  consul  said  that  the  Carthaginians  must  pull 
their  city  down,  and  build  it  again  ten  miles  from 
the  sea  coast.  This  was  of  course  ruin  to  a trading 
city,  so  in  fury  the  Carthaginians  refused  : they  made 
haste  to  mend  their  walls,  and  made  new  aims  : the 
women  cut  off  their  hair  to  make  bow-strings,  and  the 
city  was  made  ready  for  a siege.  The  siege  lasted  for 
three  years  (149-146),  and  the  fighting  was  severe  on 
both  sides.  The  general  who  took  the  city  was 
Publius  Scipio  /Emilianus.  He  first  built  a stone 
wall  across  the  harbour  of  Carthage  so  as  to  shut  in 
their  ships,  but  the  Carthaginians  dug  a canal  on  the 
other  side  and  sailed  out.  However,  Scipio  tried 
again,  and  built  a great  wall  as  high  as  the  wall  of 
the  city,  so  as  to  shut  out  the  Carthaginians  from 
the  harbour.  Then  they  began  to  give  way,  and  the 
Romans  forced  an  entrance  into  the  city;  but  still  every 
liouse  had  to  be  taken  by  storm ; the  Romans  entered 
une  house  from  another,  by  knocking  down  the  walls, 
and  there  were  desperate  fights  in  the  rooms.  At  last 
only  a tenth  part  of  the  population  was  left  to  sur- 
render; all  the  rest  had  been  killed.  Carthage  was 
set  on  fire,  and  burned  almost  to  the  ground,  and 
the  land  of  Carthage  was  made  a Roman  province 
under  the  name  of  Africa. 


ROME  AS  CONQUEROR. 


5‘ 


6.  Rome’s  position  in  B.C.  133. — Thus  you  see 
that  in  the  year  133  Rome,  besides  ruling  Italy,  was 
ruler  also  of  Macedonia,  Greece,  Asia,  Spain  and 
Africa,  in  fact  all  the  countries  round  the  Medi- 
terranean Sea,  which  thus  became  a Roman  lake. 
Also  these  were  all  the  countries  which  at  that  time 
were  civilised,  that  is,  had  made  themselves  into  regular 
states,  whose  citizens  lived  together  for  their  common 
good,  and  built  cities,  and  made  and  obeyed  laws. 
You  see,  then,  how  important  was  the  position  of  Rome 
after  these  wars  : she  was  the  head  of  the  civilized 
world.  Some  of  the  countries  which  Rome  conquered 
were  made  into  provinces,  and  so  were  ruled  by 
Roman  governors  : others  were  still  ruled  over  by  their 
own  kings  or  governors,  but  had  to  do  whatever 
Rome  told  them,  and  were  really  worse  off  than  if 
they  had  been  subjects. 

7.  Rome’s  Wars  after  B.C.  133. — The  wars 
Rome  carried  on  after  this  time  were  against  uncivilised 
peoples,  that  is,  against  peoples  who  did  not  yet  live 
in  cities,  but  were  small  tribes,  who  only  helped  one 
another  when  they  were  afraid  of  a great  common 
danger,  and  who  had  no  laws  in  common.  Against 
these  people  Rome  fought  as  a civilising  power ; when 
she  conquered  them,  she  taught  them  to  live  together 
and  obey  laws.  In  this  way  the  history  of  the 
nations  of  northern  Europe  begins  with  the  account 
of  tlieir  conquest  by  Rome. 

CHAPTER  V. 


HOW  THE  ROMANS  BEHAVED  AS 
CONQUERORS. 

L.  Change  in  the  Character  of  the  Romans. 
— The  Romans  themselves  were  greatly  changed  by 
making  all  these  conquests.  Their  great  men  were 
no  longer  simple  farmers  who  left  the  plough  to 
6ght  for  their  country,  and  went  back  again  when  the 


52 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[CHA?. 


enemy  had  been  driven  away.  The  Roman  generals 
were  now  very  rich  men,  and  spent  all  their  time  in 
war  or  in  the  business  of  the  state.  They  were  no 
longer  simple  men  doing  their  duty  to  their  country, 
but  they  became  proud,  and  desired  honours,  and 
wanted  to  be  rich.  No  longer  were  the  presents  of 
foreign  kings  refused  at  Rome,  but  Roman  generals 
asked  for  money  wherever  they  went. 

2.  Influence  of  the  Greeks. — Of  course  when  the 
Romans  conquered  Greece  and  the  East,  they  saw  a 
great  many  things  which  they  had  never  seen  before : 
and  they  began  to  care  more  about  eating  and  drinking 
and  building  fine  houses.  The  Greeks  were  much 
cleverer  than  the  Romans,  or  indeed  than  any  people 
of  the  time,  for  all  the  best  books  and  statues  and 
pictures  of  the  old  world  had  been  made  by  the  Greek 
writers  and  artists.  So  the  Romans  not  only  learned 
many  new  things  from  the  Greeks,  but  gave  up  a great 
many  of  their  own  early  beliefs.  They  thought  less 
of  their  own  Roman  gods,  and  altogether  they  were 
not  so  simple  or  so  good  as  they  had  been  before. 

3.  Publius  Scipio  Africanus. — The  man  who 
was  most  fond  of  the  Greeks,  and  lived  most  like 
them,  was  Publius  Scipio  Africanus, — for  he  was 
called  Africanus  after  he  had  defeated  Hannibal  in 
Africa.  Men  in  Rome  were  not  fond  of  Publius 
Scipio,  though  he  was  a great  general.  They  said 
he  thought  too  much  of  himself,  and  wished  to  do  as 
he  liked,  and  did  not  behave  like  a Roman.  His 
great  enemy  was  Marcus  Cato,  who  was  a rough  old 
man  who  did  not  like  the  new  Greek  fashions.  At 
last  a charge  was  brought  against  Lucius  Scipio  Asiati- 
cus,  who  was  the  brother  of  Publius,  and  had  defeated 
Antiochus  in  Asia.  He  was  accused  of  having  taken 
for  himself,  as  general,  some  money  that  belonged  to 
the  Roman  people.  Then  Publius  rose  to  speak  for 
his  brother,  and  took  the  account-books  and  tore  them 
in  pieces  before  the  people,  and  said  “ To-day  fourteen 
years  ago  I defeated  Hannibal  at  Zama ; let  us  go  and 


RQME  AS  CONQUEROR. 


53 


give  thanks-  to  the  gods  for  saving  the  state.”  Then 
he  and  all  the  people  went  up  to  the  Capitol,  and  his 
accusers  were  left  alone.  But  after  this  he  left  Rome, 
and  died  in  exile,  and  the  words  “ Ungratef’il  country  ” 
were  written  on  his  grave. 

4.  Marcus  Cato. — His  enemy,  Marcus  Cato,  tried 
to  keep  up  the  old  Roman  manners.  He  lived  very 
simply,  and  spent  very  little  money.  He  took  great 
pains  in  educating  his  children,  and  making  them 
strong  in  body.  He  always  spoke  against  the  bad 
habits  which  the  Romans  were  learning,  and  when 
he  was  made  censor,  he  punished  many  great  men 
for  things  they  had  done.  But  though  the  Roman 
people  listened  to  him,  and  laughed  at  his  sharp 
sayings,  and  found  much  truth  in  them,  still  they  did 
not  try  to  make  themselves  any  better. 

5.  The  Roman  Nobles. — Let  us  try  and  see 
how  the  Roman  people  changed,  now  that  they  had 
become  so  great  a nation. 

You  will  remember  that  in  the  year  300  the  old 
quarrels  of  the  patricians  and  plebeians  came  to  an 
end,  and  all  were  equal  in  the  state.  But  very  soon 
a new  difference  grew  up  amongst  them.  The  rich 
plebeians  and  the  chief  patricians  were  the  only  people 
who  were  elected  consuls.  So  a few  families,  whose 
members  were  generally  elected  magistrates,  gradually 
separated  themselves  off  from  the  other  families,  and 
were  called  optimates,  or  nobles.  These  families  thought 
themselves  much  better  than  the  rest  because  they  were 
richer,  and  because  they  held  the  offices  of  state ; and 
thus  you  see  a new  nobility,  which  was  founded  on 
money,  grew  up  in  Rome.  Only  rich  men  ever  got 
into  the  Senate,  and  all  the  magistrates  were  chosen 
out  of  these  noble  families.  These  nobles  agreed 
amongst  themselves,  and  as  they  made  up  the  Senate, 
they  governed  Rome  as  they  pleased. 

6.  New  government  of  the  Roman  State. — 
In  former  times  the  consuls  had  governed  Rome  with 
the  help  of  the  Senate ; but  now  the  Senate  governed. 


54 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap 


and  the  consuls  had  to  do  what  the  Senate  told  them 
to  do.  At  first  the  Senate  governed  ver}'  well,  especi- 
ally during  the  war  with  Hannibal ; but  after  the  wars 
in  Asia  every  one  wanted  to  grow  rich,  and  then  the 
Senate  tried  to  get  money  rather  than  to  govern  well. 
So  all  sorts  of  evils  arose  in  Rome,  and  no  one  could 
prevent  them.  Though  Rome  was  very  powerful,  still 
her  greatest  men  were  afraid.  Cato  asked  sadly,  “ VVha) 
will  become  of  Rome  when  she  has  no  longer  an) 
state  to  fear?”  Scipio  ^Emilianus,  who  took  Carthage, 
instead  of  praying,  as  the  magistrates  always  did,  that 
the  gods  would  increase  the  state,  could  only  pray  that 
the  gods  would  preserve  it. 

You  must  see  what  these  dangers  were  of  which 
these  great  men  were  afraid.  Perhaps  this  may  be 
done  most  easily  if  you  see  what  the  government  of  the 
Senate  did  for  Rome,  for  Italy,  and  for  the  Provinces. 

7.  What  the  new  state  of  things  did  for 
Rome. — Rome,  you  must  remember,  was  a city,  and 
so,  when  Rome  grew  great,  the  people  of  one  city  had 
to  govern  almost  all  the  world.  The  people  of  the 
city  were  divided  into  the  rich  nobles  and  senators, 
the  knights,  and  the  common  people.  The  nobles 
and  senators  took  care  of  the  government,  as  we  have 
seen,  but  laws  had  to  be  made  before  the  Assemblies 
of  the  people,  and  so  the  Senate  had  to  please  the 
people  if  it  wanted  to  have  its  own  way.  The  knights 
were  th  e rich  traders  : they  were  called  knights  because 
in  the  old  army  of  Rome  all  the  richest  men  had  to 
fight  on  horseback.  Of  course,  in  the  new  state  of 
things  these  knights  very  seldom  went  to  the  wars,  but 
stayed  at  Rome  and  did  their  business,  and  the  Senate 
let  them  gather  the  taxes  in  the  provinces,  so  that 
they  grew  richer  and  richer.  The  common  people 
also  had  to  be  fed  and  amused  by  the  nobles,  that 
they  might  be  kept  quiet  and  contented.  The  magis- 
trates in  the  provinces  used  to  send  presents  of  com 
to  Rome,  which  were  divided  amongst  the  people, 
without  their  paying  for  it.  Also  every  man  before  he 


ROME  AS  CONQUEROR. 


55 


was  elected  a magistrate  had  to  give  great  games  for  the 
people’s  amusement  in  the  circus.  The  Romans  were 
always  a cruel  people,  and  their  games  were  cruel  too. 
They  had  of  course  horse  races  and  foot  races  : but 
they  also  liked  to  see  strange  animals,  such  as  lions 
and  tigers,  brought  to  Rome,  and  hunted  to  death  in 
their  presence.  The  sport,  however,  of  which  they 
were  most  fond  were  the  gladiatorial  fights,  when  men 
fought  with  one  another,  and  killed  one  another  to  make 
amusement  for  the  people.  Often  these  gladiators  were 
prisoners  taken  in  war,  but  there  was  a number  of 
men  regularly  trained  to  this  as  a trade.  Now,  all 
these  games  were  paid  for  by  the  rich,  so  as  to  please 
the  people,  and  the  games  and  gifts  of  com  together 
drew  more  and  more  people  to  Rome,  and  so  its  poor 
people  ceased  to  be  really  Romans,  and  became  more 
and  more  a mob  of  idle  and  worthless  folk.  But  all 
the  rule  of  the  world  was  still  in  their  hands. 

Thus  you  see  in  Rome  itself  the  Senate  wanted  to 
keep  all  the  power  to  itself ; the  knights  wanted  to 
grow  rich,  and  would  do  anything  to  get  money ; the 
people  were  lazy,  and  only  wanted  to  be  fed  and 
amused,  without  doing  anything. 

8.  What  the  new  state  of  things  did  for 
Italy. — Italy  had  been  ravaged  by  the  war  with 
Hannibal,  and  afterwards  by  the  Romans  when  they 
punished  those  who  had  taken  Hannibal’s  side.  The 
little  famrs  had  been  mined,  and  men  went  to  live 
in  towns  instead  of  living  in  the  country.  Every 
Roman  when  he  grew  rich  wanted  to  have  a great 
deal  of  land;  so  land  grew  too  dear  for  the  small 
hrmer  to  buy,  and  large  farms  took  the  place  of  small 
ones.  This  land,  which  the  Roman  nobles  thus  got, 
was  not  generally  let  out  for  a rent,  as  it  is  with  us, 
but  was  tilled  by  slaves.  The  Romans  in  their  wars 
had  made  a great  number  of  slaves  ; so  to  buy  and 
use  slaves  was  cheaper  than  to  hire  free  labourers, 
and  slaves  were  almost  always  used  in  Italy.  A poor 
pnan  could  very  seldom  get  work  to  do  as  a farm 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap. 


56 

labourer,  but  had  to  go  and  live  idly  in  a town,  01 
else  become  a soldier.  Bands  of  slaves,  chained 
together,  did  all  the  work  in  the  fields. 

You  see,  then,  that  the  class  of  soldiers  who  had 
fought  Rome’s  battles  so  well  in  her  early  days,  the 
small  farmers,  had  been  ruined  by  the  growth  of 
wealth.  Rome  might  become  richer,  but  would  nevej 
be  so  strong  again. 

Another  thing  was  that  Rome,  after  driving  Hannibal 
out  of  Italy,  treated  the  Italians  much  more  harshly 
than  before.  The  Italians  were  looked  upon  as 
subjects,  almost  as  much  as  the  foreign  peoples  which 
Rome  had  bfeen  conquering.  Even  the  Latins,  who 
had  been  so  faithful  to  Rome,  were  not  rewarded ; 
Rome  no  longer  treated  them  as  equals,  but  took 
from  them  by  her  harshness  all  the  hopes  they  had 
had  before  of  being  some  day  made  Roman  citizens. 

So  Rome’s  government  was  not  much  liked  in  Italy 
itself. 

9.  Condition  of  the  Provinces. — The  pro- 
vinces were  governed  by  magistrates  sent  every  year 
from  Rome  by  the  Senate.  The  custom  was  that 
after  a man  had  been  consul  in  Rome,  he  should  go 
and  rule  a province  for  a year.  A man  only  became 
consul  after  he  had  held  other  magistracies,  and  to  all 
of  these  he  was  elected  by  the  people.  He  had,  then, 
to  make  sure  of  his  elections  by  giving  very  splendid 
games  to  the  people,  and  these  cost  him  a great  deal 
of  money.  The  governor  of  a Roman  province  gener- 
ally left  Rome  very  much  in  debt.  He  had  during  his 
year  of  office  to  make  three  large  fortunes,  one  to  pay 
his  debts,  one  for  himself  to  live  upon,  and  one  to 
bribe  his  judges  if  he  were  brought  to  trial.  Of 
course  this  money  had  to  be  gotten  from  the  poor 
people  whom  he  governed.  If  he  did  anything  wrong, 
and  the  people  of  the  province  complained  to  the 
Senate,  the  governor  was  brought  to  trial,  but  he  was 
almost  always  acquitted.  He  bribed  his  judges,  and 
the  senators  all  hoped  to  go  as  governors  of  provinces 


VL] 


A TTEMPTS  A T REFORM. 


57 


some  day,  and  so  they  would  not  be  hard  upon  one 
another. 

So  the  people  of  the  provinces  were  sadly  oppressed 
by  this  government  of  the  Senate. 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  BY  THE  GRACCHI. 

1.  Dangers  of  the  Roman  State. — You  see 
how  vnany  dangers  there  were  in  the  Roman  state,  and 
you  see  why  Cato  and  Scipio  feared  about  the  future 
of  Rome. 

Before  trying  to  see  how  these  evils  were  to  be  got 
rid  of,  let  us  clearly  say  what  they  were  ; — 

(1) .  The  Roman  people  was  becoming  a rabble,  at 
the  head  of  which  was  a small  body  of  rich  and  selfish 
nobles,  who  fed  and  amused  this  rabble  to  make  it 
do  as  they  told  it. 

(2) .  Slave  labour  had  taken  the  place  of  free  labour 
in  Italy,  and  the  number  of  freemen  was  becoming 
smaller  and  smaller. 

(3) .  Rome  was  treating  the  Italians  hardly,  and  the 
Latins  proudly,  because  the  rabble  of  Rome  did  not 
want  to  give  anyone  else  the  privileges  which  they  had 
themselves. 

(4) .  The  people  of  the  provinces  were  everywhere 
oppressed. 

2.  Plans  of  Tiberius  Gracchus  for  reform. — 
Now,  in  the  year  133  an  attempt  was  made  in  Rome 
to  mend  some  of  these  evils.  Tiberius  Sempronius 
Gracchus  was  a Roman  noble,  who  had  seen  the  sad 
5tate  of  Italy,  and  who  had  been  at  the  wars  in 
Spain,  and  knew  how  badly  the  Romans  treated  the 
Spaniards,  and  how  weak  the  Roman  amiy  really  was. 

So  he  came  back  to  Rome,  to  see  if  he  could  not 
make  things  better.  He  got  himself  elected  tribime 
of  the  plebs  in  134,  and  at  once  proposed  an  Agrarian 
Law.  The  public  land  of  Rome  was  now  very  large, 


CHAPTER  VI. 


KOMAXi  HISTOme. 


[CHAK 


SS 

and  it  was  used  by  the  nobles,  who  paid  no  rent  to 
the  state  for  it.  Tiberius  Gracchus  wanted  to  take 
this  land  and  divide  it  into  small  farms  for  the  poor 
people.  Of  course  the  rich  men  did  not  like  this,  and 
as  there  were  ten  tribunes,  they  got  one  of  the  othei 
tribunes  to  object  to  the  law  which  Tiberius  Gracchu-s 
brought  forward.  Now  no  law  could  pass  which  a 
tribune  objected  to.  But  Tiberius  Gracchus  proposed 
to  the  people  to  turn  this  tribune  out  of  his  office, 
and  so  carry  the  law.  The  people  agreed  to  do  this, 
and  the  law  was  passed,  but  you  see  that  the  old 
laws  of  the  state  were  broken  to  pass  it.  This  was  not  a 
very  good  sign  for  the  future  ; for  if  changes  could  not 
be  made  in  Rome  without  breaking  the  laws,  it  seemed 
likely  that  the  changes  would  do  more  harm  than  good. 

Tiberius  Gracchus  soon  found  that  this  was  the 
case.  His  law  was  very  hard  to  carry  out,  and  did 
not  do  much  for  the  poor  people  at  once.  The 
nobles  hated  him  for  it,  and  he  knew  that  if  he  were 
not  made  tribune  next  year,  the  nobles  would  kill 
him.  So  he  tried  very  hard  to  be  made  tribune, 
?nd  the  nobles  tried  to  prevent  him,  and  so  there 
was  a riot,  in  which  Tiberius  Gracchus  and  three 
hundred  of  his  followers  were  killed.  This  was  in 
the  year  133,  and  was  the  beginning  of  a time  ol 
revolution  in  Rome,  that  is,  a time  in  which  neither 
side  cared  for  the  old  laws,  but  both  sides  were  ready 
to  carry  what  they  wanted  by  force  and  bloodshed 
if  they  could  not  do  it  in  any  other  way. 

3.  Reforms  of  Caius  Gracchus. — Ten  years 
after  the  death  of  Tiberius  Gracchus,  his  younger 
brother,  Caius  Sempronius  Gracchus,  tried  to  carry  out 
the  same  plans  (123).  It  was  in  vain  that  his  mother 
strove  to  prevent  him.  She  had  been  very  proud  ol 
her  sons  when  they  were  boys,  and  once  when  a Roman 
lady  was  showing  her  all  sorts  of  fine  jewels,  Cornelia 
(for  that  was  her  name)  called  for  her  sons,  and  when 
they  came  she  put  her  arms  round  them  and  said, 
“These  are  my  jewels.”  Now  one  of  them  had  been 


yi,]  attempts  AT  REFORM.  59 

killed  as  a rebel,  and  she  was  afraid  that  the  otho 
might  soon  be  killed  also. 

Caius  Gracchus  went  much  farther  than  his  brother. 
He  seems  to  have  wished  to  break  up  the  govemmeni 
altogether.  He  was  tribune,  and  carried  laws  by  going 
to  the  j)eople  at  once,  without  paying  any  attention 
to  the  consuls  or  Senate.  He  wanted  to  upset  the 
government  of  the  nobles,  and  make  a government 
of  tne  people,  with  himself  at  its  head.  First  he  won 
over  the  people  by  passing  a law  that  they  should 
always  have  com  sold  them  at  a very  low  price. 
Then  he  won  over  the  knights  to  side  with  him  against 
the  nobles  by  giving  them  greater  chances  of  making 
money  in  the  provinces,  and  also  by  ordering  that  the 
jurymen  for  the  future  should  be  chosen  from  the  knights 
and  not  from  the  Senate.  In  this  way  the  knights  had 
all  the  power  of  the  law-courts  on  their  side,  and  now 
were  quite  equal  to  the  Senate.  The  rich  men  had 
before  this  joined  with  the  nobles,  but  now  the  rich 
men  and  the  nobles  were  opposed  to  one  another. 
Caius  Gracchus  said  that  he  had  thrown  down  a 
dagger  for  the  enemies  of  the  people  to  stab  one 
another  with. 

4.  How  Caius  Gracchus  failed. — When  Cams 
Gracchus  had  thus  got  the  people  and  the  knights  on 
his  side,  he  passed  an  Agrarian  Law,  and  founded  many 
colonies  for  the  poor  people,  both  in  Italy  and  outside 
Italy.  So  long  as  he  only  tried  to  do  good  to  the  people 
of  Rome,  they  were  very  pleased  at  all  he  did.  But 
in  his  second  tribunate  (122),  he  proposed  to  make 
all  the  Latins  citizens  of  Rome,  and  to  give  all  the 
Italians  the  rights  which  the  Latins  then  had.  The 
Romans,  however,  did  not  like  this  ; they  thought  that 
it  was  better  to  keep  to  themselves  their  high  position, 
which  meant  their  cheap  bread  and  their  games,  so 
they  would  not  have  this  law  of  Gracchus.  It  was 
a great  pity  that  they  would  not  have  it,  as  it  would 
have  done  a great  deal  of  good  to  the  Roman  state. 
For  it  was  impossible  for  the  people  of  one  citv 


6o 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap 


to  govern  the  whole  world,  unless  they  were  ready  to 
take  into  their  city  every  one  who  was  fit  to  obey  their 
laws.  Now  the  Latins  were  almost  the  same  people 
as  the  Romans,  and  had  always  been  their  allies, 
and  had  obeyed  Rome’s  laws,  and  fought  bravely  for 
her.  If  the  city  of  Rome  was  to  grow  larger  it  coul(f 
not  have  any  new  citizens  better  than  the  Latins.  L 
the  city  of  Rome  was  not  to  grow  larger  it  would  have 
to  govern  all  its  subjects  by  force,  and  it  would  be 
impossible  for  the  few  people  of  one  city  to  govern 
the  world  by  force  only.  You  will  see  how  this 
difficulty  came  back  again,  and  the  Romans  had  to 
give  way  at  last ; but  it  would  have  saved  them  much 
misery  if  they  had  been  wise  enough  to  take  the  Latins 
into  the  state  of  their  own  accord,  as  Caius  Gracchus 
wanted  them  to  do.  Next  year,  121,  Caius  Gracchus 
was  not  made  tribune.  He  tried  to  live  quietly  in 
Rome,  but  there  was  soon  a riot,  in  which  the  nobles 
attacked  him  and  his  followers.  Many  were  killed, 
and  Caius  Gracchus  amongst  them. 

You  see  from  this  what  a bad  condition  Rome  was 
in,  and  how  different  it  was  now  from  the  old  times 
of  the  struggles  between  the  patricians  and  plebeians. 
Then  the  Romans  held  by  the  laws,  and  did  not  kill 
one  another,  but  now  the  laws  were  thought  very  little 
of,  and  force  and  selfishness  seemed  to  do  everything. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

TIME  OF  MISGOVERNMENT  AT  ROME, 

I.  Slave  War  in  Sicily. — After  the  death  of 
Caius  Gracchus  the  nobles  did  what  they  pleased  in 
Rome.  They  paid  no  more  attention  to  the  Agrarian 
Law,  and  the  state  of  Italy  grew  worse  and  worse. 
The  slaves  were  so  many  that  it  was  very  hard  to  keep 
them  in  order.  In  Sicily  there  was  a great  war  carried 
on  by  runaway  slaves,  who  made  themselves  into  an 
army,  and  for  five  years  resisted  the  Romans  (104-99) 


vn.]  TIME  OF  MISGOVERNMENT  AT  ROME.  6i 


2.  War  with  Jugurtha.  — The  nobles  cared 
nothing  for  Rome’s  honour,  but  only  for  their  own 
pockets.  They  governed  badly,  and  took  bribes  from 
foreign  kings,  who  were  allowed  to  do  what  they  liked 
if  they  could  pay  enough.  This  was  especially  seen  in 
a war  that  took  place  in  Africa.  After  Carthage  had 
been  destroyed,  the  greatest  state  in  Africa  was  Nu- 
midia.  The  King  of  Numidia  was  a friend  of  the 
Roman  people,  and  had  fought  with  them  against  Car- 
thage. So  Rome  had  a good  deal  to  do  with  Numidia, 
and  the  Numidians  often  helped  Rome  in  her  wars. 
In  ii8  a king  of  Numidia  died,  and  left  the  kingdom 
to  his  two  sons  and  an  adopted  son  named  Jugurtha. 
Jugurtha  determined  to  have  the  kingdom  all  to  him- 
self, so  he  murdered  one  of  the  sons  and  made  war 
upon  the  other,  who  applied  to  Rome  for  help.  The 
Senate  was  bribed  by  Jugurtha,  and  did  all  it  could 
to  please  him ; at  last,  however,  Jugurtha  besieged  his 
brother  in  Cirta,  and  when  he  took  the  city  put  him 
and  all  his  army  to  death  (112).  After  this  the 
Romans  thought  they  must  interfere,  but  the  Senate 
for  more  money,  were  willing  to  let  Jugurtha  off  very 
easily.  He  came  to  Rome  to  excuse  himself  before 
ihe  people,  and  whilst  he  was  there  he  had  a Numid- 
ian  prince,  of  whom  he  was  afraid,  murdered  in  Rome 
itself.  But  his  bribes  were  stronger  than  the  la-^s, 
and  when  he  left  Rome  he  looked  back  upon  it,  and 
said,  “ Oh  city,  where  everything  is  sold,  you  would 
sell  yourself  if  you  could  only  find  a buyer.” 

The  Romans  declared  war  against  Jugurtha,  but  he 
bribed  the  generals,  and  for  three  years  very  little  was 
done  against  him.  At  last,  in  108,  a good  general,  whc 
would  not  take  bribes,  Quintus  Metellus,  went  against 
him  and  defeated  him.  Metellus  would  have  finished 
the  war,  but  in  106  the  command  was  taken  from  him 
by  Caius  Marius  the  consul. 

3.  Rise  of  Caius  Marius. — This  Caius  Marius 
was  a man  of  low  birth,  but  a good  soldier.  He  had 
risen  in  war  by  his  bravery,  and  had  held  magistracies 


62 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap 


in  Rome.  He  was  an  officer  in  the  army  of  Metellus, 
and  was  very  much  liked  by  the  common  soldiers,  for 
he' was  a rough  man  like  themselves,  and  talked  with 
them,  and  lived  as  they  did.  It  is  said  that  Metellus 
laughed  at  him  for  his  low  birth,  and  so  Marius  dis- 
liked him.  Also  in  Africa  a soothsayer  told  Marius 
that  he  would  become  a very  great  man,  greater 
than  he  ever  had  hoped  to  be.  So  Marius  left  Africa 
and  went  to  Rome  to  try  and  be  made  consul  in 
io6.  He  found  fault  with  Metellus  before  the  people, 
and  said  that  he  could  carry  on  the  war  better  him- 
self. So  the  people  made  him  consul,  and  more 
than  that,  they  said  that  he  should  be  general  in 
Africa  instead  of  Metellus.  Before  this  time  the 
Senate  always  said  what  the  consuls  should  do : but 
since  the  time  of  the  Gracchi  the  assemblies  of  the 
people  had  done  more  and  more  in  the  business  of 
the  state. 

Marius  finished  the  war  in  Africa,  and  brought 
fugurtha  in  triumph  to  Italy  in  104.  But  you  see 
this  war  ought  never  to  have  taken  place  if  the  Senate 
had  governed  honestly ; and,  when  it  did  take  place, 
it  ought  to  have  been  finished  much  sooner  if  the 
generals  had  carried  it  on  honestly.  However,  when 
it  was  over,  Marius  was  the  most  powerful  man  in 
Rome.  He  was  the  leader  of  the  popular  party,  and 
also  the  general  of  the  army. 

4.  Power  of  the  Army  at  Rome. — The  army 
had  greatly  changed  since  the  time  of  Hannibal.  The 
Roman  soldiers  were  no  longer  citizens  who  fought  when 
their  countr  wanted  them,  and  then  went  back  to  their 
work.  But  as  wars  were  now  constantly  going  on, 
■ind  going  on  too  in  distant  countries,  this  could  no 
longer  be  the  case,  and  the  army  was  full  of  men 
who  took  to  a soldier’s  life  as  a trade.  Marius  was 
the  favourite  of  these  soldiers  : he  was  a soldier  by 
trade  himself,  and  had  risen  in  consequence  to  power 
m the  state.  Notice,  then,  that  when  Marius  was  made 
consul,  it  was  a sign  that  the  government  for  the  future 


rii.]  TIME  OF  MISGOVERNMENT  AT  ROME.  63 

was  to  be  carried  on  by  the  army,  as  well  as  by  the 
people  and  the  nobles. 

5.  Wars  against  the  Teutones  and  Cimbri.— 
' arius  was  soon  wanted  to  carry  on  another  war.  Two 
great  tribes  of  barbarians  from  the  north  had  entered 
Gaul  west  of  the  Alps,  and  threatened  to  drive  out 
the  Romans,  and  even  attack  Italy.  They  came  with 
heir  wives  and  children,  like  a wandering  people 
looking  for  a home.  They  seemed  very  strange  to 
the  Romans,  these  people  with  blue  eyes  and  flaxen 
hair.  They  fought  bravely  in  battle,  rushing  upon 
their  enemy  with  fury.  At  first  these  Cimbri  defeated 
the  Roman  generals  in  southern  Gaul,  where  the 
Romans  had  conquered  the  country  along  the  Rhone, 
and  made  it  a province,  which  is  still  called  the 
province,  or  Provence.  The  Romans,  after  this  de- 
feat, were  afraid  of  another  burning  of  their  city  by 
barbarians,  so  Marius  was  made  consul  again,  and  for 
the  next  five  years  he  was  elected  again  and  again. 
This  was  against  the  custom,  and  had  never  been  done 
to  any  one  before.  It  shows  how  great  the  fear  ol 
the  Romans  must  have  been,  and  how  powerful  Marius 
had  become.  In  the  year  102  the  Teutones  and  the 
Cimbri  marched  to  attack  Italy,  but  Marius  defeated 
them  in  two  great  battles.  Afterwards  when  he  went 
back  to  Rome  in  triumph  he  was  so  powerful  that  he 
could  have  done  what  he  chose  in  the  state.  The 
people  were  very  grateful  to  him,  the  soldiers  were 
very  fond  of  him,  and  the  nobles  were  very  much 
afraid  of  him. 

6.  Marius  in  Rome. — But  Marius  did  not  think 
much  of  the  good  of  the  state : he  thought  much  more 
of  his  own  greatness,  and  how  he  might  become  a still 
greater  man.  So,  first,  he  joined  the  party  of  the  people, 
and  one  of  the  tribunes,  Lucius  Appuleius  Satuminus, 
brought  forward  some  laws  like  those  of  Caius  Grac- 
chus, and  Marius  helped  him.  But  there  were  riots 
in  consequence,  and  the  Senate  begged  Marius  to  help 
them  in  putting  down  the  riots.  For  a time  Marius 

.5* 


54 


ROMAN  HISTOR  V, 


[CHAP. 


doubted  what  to  do,  but  at  last  he  armed  the  people, 
and  Satuminus  was  killed  (99).  But  now  neither 
side  liked  Marius,  for  he  was  true  to  neither,  and 
did  only  what  he  thought  would  make  himself  most 
powerful.  So  for  the  future  Marius  was  not  likely  to 
be  of  much  use  in  the  troubles  of  the  Roman  state. 

7.  Marcus  Livius  Drusus.  — These  troubles 
began  very  greatly  to  increase ; for  the  Italians  were 
growing  more  and  more  angry  at  the  way  in  which 
Rome  treated  them.  The  Latins  also  had  been  ordered 
to  leave  Rome,  where  many  of  them  used  to  live, 
because  some  of  the  nobles  thought  they  voted  against 
them  in  the  Assemblies  of  the  people.  To  prevent 
these  grievances  from  breaking  out  into  war,  Marcus 
Livius  Drusus,  a tribune,  proposed  in  91  that  the 
citizenship  of  Rome  should  be  gr'.ven  to  all  the  Italians, 
and  so  all  the  Italians  would  be  made  equal  with 
the  people  who  lived  in  Rome.  But  both  nobles 
and  people  were  very  angry  with  Drusus  for  bringing 
forward  this  law,  and  on  the  day  on  which  it  was  to 
have  been  voted  upon  Drusus  was  murdered.  He 
was  stabbed  as  he  was  going  into  his  house,  and 
died  saying,  “ When  will  the  state  have  another  citizen 
like  myself.” 

8.  War  with  the  Italians. — The  news  of  this 
murder  stirred  up  the  Italians  at  once  to  rebel : they 
saw  that  Rome  would  never  of  her  own  accord  give 
them  any  rights : so  they  tried  to  get  them  by  force. 
The  chief  of  the  rebel  peoples  were  the  Samnites.  In 
the  year  90  began  a war,  in  which  Italy  was  divided 
into  two  parts,  and  one  fought  against  the  other.  At 
the  end  of  the  first  yeads  war  the  Romans  felt  that  they 
must  give  way.  But  they  gave  way  little  by  little : at 
first  they  gave  the  Roman  citizenship  to  all  the  Italians 
who  had  not  yet  revolted : then  to  all  who  should 
lay  down  their  arms  in  two  months.  In  this  way 
Rome  won  back  all  who  were  not  very  hostile  to 
her,  and  so  could  go  against  Samnium,  which  had 
shown  again  all  the  old  vigour  of  the  Samnite  wars. 


riL]  TIME  OF  MISGOVERNMENT  AT  ROME.  65 

In  this  war  there  arose  a new  general  amongst  the 
Romans,  Lucius  Cornelius  Sulla.  He  was  a noble, 
who  had  first  learned  war  under  Marius  when  he 
fought  against  Jugurtha.  But  he  had  not  shown  him- 
self very  desirous  of  holding  office  in  the  state,  and 
had  not  put  himself  forward.  In  the  year  89  he 
was  commanding  against  the  Samnites  and  defeated 
them. 

9.  Results  of  the  Social  War. — ^At  the  end  of 

the  year  89  all  the  peoples  Of  Italy  except  the  Samnites 
and  Lucanians  had  submitted  to  Rome,  and  had  re- 
ceived the  Roman  citizenship.  This  war,  which  is 
called  the  Social  War,  or  war  against  the  allies,  was 
almost  over.  Rome  had  had  to  give  way,  and  had 
been  forced  to  go  back  to  her  old  plan  of  making 
other  people  equal  with  herself,  and  always  from  time 
to  time  taking  in  fresh  citizens  into  the  state.  This 
plan  had  for  a time  been  laid  aside  by  the  nobles,  and 
Rome  had  run  in  consequence  into  great  danger.  This 
war  had  destroyed  houses  and  wasted  fields  in  Italy 
almost  as  much  as  the  war  with  Hannibal  had  done. 
It  made  the  number  of  farms  in  Italy  smaller  than  it 
had  been  before,  and  drove  more  men  who  before 
would  have  been  farmers  to  become  soldiers. 

10.  Causes  of  the  Civil  Wars. — You  find,  then, 
Rome’s  armies  growing  larger  and  larger,  and  the  men 
who  went  to  be  soldiers  were  better  than  the  men  who 
stayed  at  Rome  and  idled,  and  were  fed  by  the 
Senate,  and  spent  all  their  time  in  baths  and  sports 
in  the  circus.  You  see,  then,  that  the  army  was 
becoming  more  important  than  the  people,  and  the 
generals  of  the  army  were  becoming  more  powerful 
than  the  magistrates  of  the  state.  When  this  was 
the  case,  it  was  plain  that  questions  about  govern- 
ment would  no  longer  be  agreed  about,  but  be  fought 
about.  This  was  what  happened  : the  government 
;ould  not  do  anything  against  the  generals  of  the 
army.  For  the  next  fifty  years  we  have  a period  of 
Civi  War. 


66 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[CHAF 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  CIVIL  WARS  OF  ROME. 

1.  War  with  Mithradates. — This  Social  War  was 
not  the  only  difficulty  which  the  Senate  had  before  them 
During  the  last  twenty  years  a great  power  had  beet 
forming  in  the  east  under  Mithradates,  king  of  Pontus 
Pontus  is  in  the  north-east  of  Asia  Minor,  next  tc 
Armenia.  Mithradates  for  some  time  went  on  con- 
quering the  people  in  his  neighbourhood,  and  when 
the  Romans  interfered  he  stopped  for  a little  while, 
and  then  went  on  again.  At  last  war  broke  out  with 
Rome  in  the  year  88,  when  Lucius  Cornelius  Sulla 
was  one  of  the  consuls.  He  was  appointed  by  the 
Senate  to  carry  on  the  w'ar. 

2.  Marius  and  Sulla. — But  Marius,  though  old, 
wanted  the  command  for  himself,  so  he  joined  with  one 
of  the  tribunes,  P.  Sulpicius  Rufus,  who  brought  before 
the  people  a number  of  laws  which  went  against  the 
Senate,  and  amongst  them  a law  that  Marius  should 
be  appointed  general  in  the  East  instead  of  Sulla. 
When  Sulla’s  army  heard  this  they  were  very  angry, 
and  marched  against  Rome,  and  drove  out  Marius, 
and  put  Sulpicius  to  death.  It  was  the  first  time 
that  Rome  had  been  taken  by  her  own  army,  but 
it  was  not  to  be  the  last.  From  this  time  the  chief 
power  in  Rome  had  to  be  fought  for,  and  Rome  had 
to  pay  those  who  fought.  Sulla  did  not  stay  long 
in  Rome,  but  he  passed  some  laws  to  make  the 
Senate  stronger  and  the  tribunes  weaker.  Then, 
hoping  things  would  remain  quiet  at  home,  he  went 
off  to  the  war  against  Mithradates. 

3.  Sulla  in  the  East. — It  was  quite  time  that  he 
did  so,  as  Mithradates  had  entered  Asia  Minor,  and  had 
ordered  all  the  Italians  there  to  be  put  to  death  ; 1 50,000 
are  said  to  have  been  killed.  He  had  also  sent  troops 
into  Greece,  which  h.ad  rebelled  against  the  Romans 
and  had  joined  him.  So  when  Sulla  landed  in  Greece 


niLl 


THE  CIVIL  WARS  OF  ROME. 


6; 


in  87  he  had  quite  enough  to  do.  He  managed,  how- 
ever, to  win  back  Greece,  and  meanwhile  Mithradates 
made  himself  unpopular  in  Asia  Minor;  so  that  when 
another  army  was  sent  from  Rome,  which  landed  in 
Asia,  Mithradates  was  obliged  to  ask  for  peace  in  84. 
Sulla  made  peace  because  he  wanted  to  go  back  to 
Italy,  wheie  things  again  were  in  confusion. 

4.  Marius  in  Exile. — After  Sulla  had  left  Rome 
the  two  consuls  began  to  quaiTel,  one  being  on  the 
side  of  Sulla,  the  other  on  the  side  of  Marius.  At  last 
L.  Cornelius  Cinna,  who  was  Marius’  consul,  gathered 
an  army  and  brought  Marius  back.  Marius  had  had 
many  troubles  in  trying  to  escape  from  Italy.  The 
sailors  of  a ship  on  which  he  wished  to  go  to  Africa 
persuaded  him  to  land  near  Minturnte,  and  then 
sailed  away  and  left  him.  He  was  pursued  and 
taken  prisoner,  though  he  had  tried  to  hide  himself 
by  standing  up  to  the  chin  in  a marsh.  He  was  put 
in  prison  at  Mintumse,  and  the  magistrates  sent  a 
Gaulish  slave  to  put  him  to  death  in  prison ; but 
when  the  slave  came  to  Marius  the  old  man’s  eyes 
flashed  so  terribly  through  the  dark  prison  as  he  said, 
“Fellow,  darest  thou  kill  Caius  Marius?”  that  the 
man  dropped  his  sword  and  ran  away.  Then  the 
magistrates  were  ashamed,  and  let  Marius  go.  He 
crossed  over  to  Africa,  but  had  no  sooner  landed  than 
he  was  warned  by  the  magistrates  to  go  away.  Those 
who  were  sent  to  tell  him  to  go  found  him  sitting 
among  the  ruins  of  Carthage,  and  when  they  had 
given  their  message  he  said,  “Say  you  have  seen 
Caius  Marius  among  the  ruins  of  Carthage.” 

5.  Cinna  and  Sulla. — Now  that  his  troubles  were 
aver  Marius  came  back  to  Rome  very  savage  after  all 
that  he  had  suffered.  He  and  Cmna  put  to  death  all 
the  chief  people  who  were  opposed  to  them.  For  five 
days  the  gates  of  Rome  were  shut,  and  Marius  went 
through  the  streets  with  a body  of  soldiers,  who  put 
to  death  any  one  he  pointed  out.  In  the  year  86 
Marius  was  made  consul  for  the  seventh  time,  but 


68 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[CHAP, 


he  did  not  live  long  to  enjoy  his  power.  He  died, 
over  the  age  of  seventy,  hated  by  all  for  his  cmelty. 

Cinna  continued  to  hold  the  chief  power  at  Rome 
till  84,  when  Sulla,  who  had  finished  the  war  with 
Mithradates  for  the  present,  prepared  to  cross  to 
Italy.  Cinna  thought  it  better  to  go  and  meet  him 
in  the  East, — but  he  was  murdered  at  Ancona  by  his 
troops  as  he  was  on  the  point  of  setting  out.  Wien 
Sulla  Ended  in  Italy  he  had  only  40,000  men,  while 
the  consuls  had  100,000.  He  could  not  therefore 
march  to  Rome  at  once,  so  he  remained  in  south  Italy, 
and  won.  over  the  people  by  kindness,  defeating  the 
armies  sent  against  him. 

6.  Sulla’s  Victory. — In  the  year  82  the  struggle 
became  more  important.  The  Samnites,  who  had  not 
yet  been  subdued  after  the  Social  War,  joined  with 
the  old  party  of  Marius.  Sulla  was  making  good  his 
position  on  every  side,  and  at  last  in  despair  the 
iamnites  and  Marians  retreated  to  Rome,  and  would 
aave  destroyed  it.  But  Sulla  followed  them,  and  a 
great  battle  was  fought  just  outside  the  walls  of  Rome. 
The  Samnites  were  with  difficulty  defeated,  and  Rome 
was  saved. 

So  Sulla  was  now  master  of  Rome,  and  could  do 
there  what  he  liked.  You  see  how  in  all  these  last 
five  years  the  power  had  been  in  the  hands  of  one 
man,  and  the  Senate  and  all  the  old  ways  of  governing 
had  been  set  aside.  Now  Sulla  decided  to  do  all 
that  could  be  done  to  bring  back  these  old  ways,  and 
to  set  up  the  government  of  the  nobility  again. 

7.  Sulla’s  Government. — Sulla  showed  quite  as 
much  cruelty  as  Marius  had  done.  He  seems  to  have 
wished  to  make  his  government  quiet  and  peaceable 
by  putting  to  death  everybody  who  was  opposed  to 
it.  Lists  were  put  out  every  day  of  men  who  were 
outlawed,  and  whom  any  one  might  put  to  death 
without  trial,  and  also  get  pay  for  doing  it.  It  is 
said  that  4,700  of  the  chief  people  in  Rome  were 
killed  in  this  way,  and  all  their  property  was  sold 


VIII.]  THE  CIVIL  WARS  OF  ROME.  69 

for  the  good  of  the  state.  This  was  a terrible  way 
of  bringing  in  peaceful  government,  and  was  hardly 
likely  to  succeed.  You  may  think  how  bad  an  effect 
it  had  on  the  morals  of  those  who,  lived  through  it 
Many  men  suddenly  became  rich,  many  more  hoped 
that  they  would  gain  something  for  themselves  by 
killing  others.  Every  one  was  made  -anxious  and  un- 
quiet for  a long  while  to  come. 

Then,  when  Sulla  had  got  rid  of  all  his  enemies,  he 
went  on  to  put  the  government  in  order.  He  was 
made  dictator,  and  as  such  passed  a number  of  laws 
to  make  the  Senate  stronger.  When  he  had  done  this 
he  had  himself  elected  consul  (80)  to  show  how  a consul 
ought  to  govern.  He  gave  most  magnificent  games, 
and  fed  all  the  people  of  Rome  for  many  days.  Then 
he  retired  from  Rome  and  from  its  politics  to  a house 
in  the  country,  where  he  died  in  78,  and  was  honoured 
with  the  grandest  funeral  that  had  ever  been  seen 
in  Rome. 

8.  Troubles  after  Sulla’s  Death. — It  might  have 
seemed  that  Rome  would  now  go  on  quietly,  but  the  old 
evils  soon  broke  out  again.  The  Social  War,  and  the 
Civil  War  which  followed,  had  wasted  Italy,  and  made 
its  population  still  less  than  before.  It  is  true  that  Sulla, 
when  his  wars  were  over,  had  given  his  soldiers  farms 
in  Italy,  by  founding  what  were  called  military  colonies. 
But  these  soldiers  were  restless,  and  soon  sold  their 
land  and  went  to  live  in  the  towns,  and  so  Italy  again 
went  back  to  large  farms  tilled  by  slaves. 

Again,  the  Senate  and  the  nobility,  on  being  restored 
to  power  by  Sulla,  looked  upon  the  state  as  something 
they  had  a right  to  use  for  their  own  purposes.  They 
were  more  bent 'upon  making  money  than  ever,  and 
many  of  them  made  larger  fortunes  than  ever.  Theii 
government  was  selfish  at  home  and  weak  abroad, 
so  it  pleased  nobody,  and  soon  found  troubles  on 
every  side. 

9.  War  with  Sertorius  in  Spain. — First,  in 
Spain,  there  was  a rebellion  against  Rome  set  on  foot 


7° 


ROMA  N HIS  TOR  V. 


[chap 


by  a Roman,  Quintus  Sertorius.  He  had  been  a general 
on  the  side  of  Marius,  and  Hed  to  Spain  when  Sulla  con 
quered.  There  he  gathered  the  Spaniards  round  him, 
and  also  a large  number  of  Romans  who  had  fled  like 
himself  He  had  very  greatly  the  power  of  getting 
barbarous  people  to  obey  him,  and  so  he  lived  amongst 
the  Spaniards,  and  taught  them  all  the  virtues  of  Rome 
For  many  years  the  Romans  could  do  nothing  against 
him they  sent  their  best  general,  Cnseus  Pompeius, 
but  he  did  not  do  very  much.  At  last  the  Spaniards 
became  tired  of  the  long  war  and  the  misery  it  brought. 
Many  deserted  Sertorius,  and  he  became  suspicious 
of  the  rest.  Then  some  of  his  officers  made  a plot 
against  him,  and  murdered  him  in  his  tent  at  supper 
(72).  After  his  death  the  rebellion  was  put  down, 
and  Spain  again  was  obedient. 

10.  Troubles  in  the  East. — But  there  were  other 
troubles  quite  as  great  for  tne  Romans.  The  Medi- 
terranean Sea  swarmed  with  pirates,  who  disturbed 
all  the  Roman  trade.  Mithradates,  too,  in  Pontus, 

- had  only  been  waiting  to  gather  his  forces  together, 
and  in  the  year  74  he  again  went  to  war  with 
the  Romans.  At  first  he  was  beaten  by  the  Roman 
general,  Lucullus,  and  driven  from  his  kingdom,  but 
he  got  help  from  the  King  of  Armenia,  and  in  the 
year  67  Lucullus  was  defeated,  and  Mithradates  re- 
turned to  Pontus.  So  far  the  Romans  had  gained 
nothing  by  the  war.  At  the  same  time,  also,  the 
Roman  fleet  had  failed  in  its  attempts  against  the 
pirates  in  the  Mediterranean. 

11.  Rebellion  of  the  Gladiators. — All  these 
things  showed  how  unable  the  Senate  was  to  carry  on 
the  government  in  matters  abroad.  Their  weakness  at 
home  was  shown,  at  the  same  time,  by  a dreadful  war 
which  again  laid  waste  Italy.  This  was  the  Gladia- 
torial War  which  broke  out  in  73.  The  gladiators  were 
men  who  were  trained  to  fight  with  one  another  and 
kill  one  another  to  amuse  the  Roman  people  at  their 
games.  These  men  were  regularly  taught  their  horrible 


THE  CIVIL  IVARS  OF  ROME. 


71 


iriii.] 

trade,  and  there  were  schools  of  gladiators  in  different 
parts  of  Italy.  Many  of  them  were  prisoners  who 
had  been  taken  in  battle  against  the  Romans,  and 
were  now  being  taught  how  to  amuse  their  conquerors 
by  their  death.  A number  of  these  gladiators  made 
their  escape  from  a prison  at  Capua,  under  a brave 
leader  called  Spartacus.  Their  numbers  grew  verj 
quickly,  for  slaves  and  gladiators  escaped  on  ever) 
side,  and  the  army  of  Spartacus  soon  reached  40,000 
men.  The  Roman  generals  were  defeated  by  them, 
and  Rome  was  in  great  danger  of  an  attack.  Spartacus 
himself  was  a great  man,  and  wished  to  lead  his 
followers  over  the  Alps  back  to  their  native  land  of 
Gaul  or  Germany.  But  they  found  they  could  rob 
as  they  pleased  in  Italy,  so  they  stayed  there  and 
did  almost  what  they  liked ; but  they  soon  began 
to  quarrel  amongst  themselves,  and  at  last,  in  the 
year  71,  were  defeated  by  the  Roman  general  Marcus 
Crassus.  At  the  same  time  Cnaeus  Pompeius,  who 
had  been  sent  for  from  Spain,  after  the  death  of 
Sertorius,  fell  upon  the  rest  of  the  slave  army  and 
almost  entirely  destroyed  them. 

12.  Power  of  Cnaeus  Pompeius. — Many  people 
now  expected  that  Pompeius  would  behave  like  Sulla, 
and  enter  Rome  with  his  army,  and  so  put  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  government.  But  he  came  back 
quietly,  and  he  and  Crassus  were  made  consuls  for 
the  year  70.  From  this  time  Pompeius  was  the  most 
important  man  in  Rome.  He  tried  to  please  both 
the  party  of  the  nobles  and  the  party  of  the  people 
It  seemed  to  the  people  that  he  was  the  only  man 
who  could  put  an  end  to  the  wars  in  which  they  were 
engaged : so,  in  67,  he  was  made  general  against  the 
pirates  by  a special  decree  of  the  people.  In  three 
months  he  cleared  the  Mediterranean  Sea  of  pirates, 
pursued  them  to  Cilicia,  and  destroyed  their  strong- 
holds. 

13.  Pompeius  in  the  East. — Meanwhile  Mith- 
radates  had  been  making  head  in  Asia,  and  the  general 

7 


72 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap. 


sent  by  the  Senate  had  shown  himself  quite  useless. 
So,  at  the  proposal  of  one  of  the  tribunes,  the  com- 
mand in  Asia  was  given  to  Pompeius.  The  Senate 
opposed  this,  but  in  vain.  The  people  were  too  strong 
for  them,  and  the  Senate  found  that  the  favourite  of 
the  people  could  do  anything  he  pleased. 

Pompeius,  therefore,  went  against  Mithradates  in 
66.  He  drove  him  out  of  his  kingdom  of  Pontus, 
and  followed  him  into  Armenia,  whither  he  fled.  Foi 
a time  Mithradates  still  tried  to  resist,  but  at  last  his 
own  son  rebelled  against  him,  and  Mithradates  in  the 
year  63  killed  himself,  that  he  might  not  be  given  ovei 
to  the  Romans.  After  this  Pompeius  went  on  tc 
Syria,  which  he  brought  under  the  rule  of  Rome 
From  Syria  he  passed  to  Judaea,  which  for  a time 
resisted,  and  even  after  Jerusalem  had  submitted  a 
few  Jews  still  held  out  on  the  Temple  rock:  but 
they  were  at  last  surprised  upon  the  Sabbath,,  since 
they  did  not  think  it  right  to  fight  on  that  day 
Pompeius  entered  the  Temple,  and  wondered  much 
at  seeing  no  idol  or  statue  in  it,  for  the  Romans 
did  not  understand  the  religion  of  the  Jews.  After 
this  Pontus,  Cilicia,  Syria,  and  Crete  were  all  made 
provinces  of  Rome,  and  in  the  year  61  Pompeius 
came  back  to  Rome  again  a successful  conqueror. 

14.  Troubles  in  Rome. — But  while  Pompeius  had 
been  establishing  order  abroad  the  government  of  the 
SenMe  had  become  still  weaker  in  Rome  itself.  Ever 
since  the  time  of  the  Gracchi  there  had  been  a party 
of  the  people  opposed  to  the  nobles  and  the  Senate. 
We  saw  how  little  good  this  party  had  got  from  the 
help  of  Marius  and  his  troops  : Sulla  had  put  it  down 
for  a time,  and  had  given  the  power  back  again  to  the 
Senate.  But  in  these  last  few  years  the  Senate  had 
been  growing  weaker,  and  the  party  of  the  people  had 
been  growing  stronger.  Pompeius  had  been  a friend 
of  Sulla’s,  and  so  belonged  to  the  nobles’-party,  but 
the  nobles  were  rather  afraid  of  him,  and  he  did  not 
rmst  them. 


VIII.]  THE  CIVIL  WARS  OF  ROME.  73 

15.  Chief  men  in  Rome. — The  best  man  amongst 
the  nobles  was  Marcus  Porcius  Cato,  who  kept  to  the 
old  Roman  virtues,  and  wished  to  keep  also  to  the 
old  Roman  government.  Another  man  of  great  con- 
sequence in  Rome  was  Marcus  Licinius  Crassus,  who 
had  made  a very  large  fortune,  which  he  was  always 
increasing : he  tried  to  please  both  parties,  and  sc 
get  everything  he  could  for  himself  Marcus  Tullius 
Cicero  also,  was  a great  man  in  Rome : he  was  not 
of  old  family  or  very  rich,  but  he  rose  by  his  own 
talents,  and  especially  by  his  great  power  of  speaking 
to  men  so  as  to  persuade  them.  He  was  one  of  the 
greatest  orators,  or  public  speakers,  that  there  has  ever 
been,  and  we  still  have  many  of  his  speeches  to  the 
Roman  people,  which  tell  us  a great  deal  about  these 
times.  He  was  a moderate  man,  who  wished  to  keep 
Rome  at  peace,  and  also  to  put  an  end  to  the  chief 
abuses  which  he  saw.  He  wished  to  reform  the  old 
plan  of  government  by  the  Senate,  but  he  did  not 
wish  to  change  it.  The  great  leader  of  the  popular 
party  was  Caius  Julius  Caesar;  he  was  of  a noble 
family,  but  Marius  had  manied  his  aunt,  and  he  him- 
self had  married  Cinna’s  daughter,  so  he  was  very 
much  liked  by  the  people.  He  was  resolved  to 
destroy  the  government  of  the  Senate,  and  then  rule 
Rome  himself  in  the  name  of  the  people.  But  as 
yet  he  had  no  army,  so  he  was  waiting  in  Rome  to 
see  how  he  could  get  one  in  due  time. 

16.  Conspiracy  of  Catilina. — How  dangerous 
the  state  of  things  was  in  Rome  may  be  seen  from 
the  conspiracy  of  Lucius  Sergius  Catilina.  He  was  a 
noble,  and  had  been  a friend  of  Sulla’s,  but  had  run 
into  debt,  and  was  now  the  leader  of  a band  of  young 
nobles  who  were  all  ruined,  and  who  hoped  to  get 
more  money  if  they  could  violently  upset  the  govern- 
ment. Catilina  joined  the  party  of  the  people,  and 
tried  to  be  elected  consul  while  Pompeius  was  away : 
but  in  the  year  63  he  was  not  elected,  while  Cicero  was. 
Cathma  is  said  by  Cicero  to  have  intended  to  murde* 


74 


fOMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap, 


him,  and  then  to  rise  and  burn  the  city  and  rob  as 
he  and  his  followers  pleased.  Though  the  Senate 
believed  this,  yet  they  were  afraid  to  take  Catilina 
prisoner.  He  left  Rome  and  raised  an  army,  where- 
upon his  friends  in  Rome  were  put  to  death  by 
Cicero’s  orders.  Next  year  Catilina  was  killed  in 
1 battle  against  the  Senate’s  army,  and  his  troops 
were  all  scattered.  You  see  how  little  feeling  there 
was  in  Rome  for  law  and  order,  when  a man  was 
suspected  of  standing  for  the  consulship  that  he  might 
use  his  office  as  a means  of  plundering  Rome.  People 
did  not  know  whether  Catilina’s  plans  were  lawful  or 
not  lawful.  And  afterwards  Cicero  was  exiled  for 
putting  Catilina’s  followers  to  death  without  trial. 
This  shows  you  how  hard  it  was  for  a magistrate  to 
know  what  to  do  in  Rome,  and  how  party  feeling 
decided  everything,  and  there  was  very  little  care 
for  the  good  of  the  state. 

17.  Pompeius,  Caesar,  and  Crassus. — This  was 
the  state  of  things  when  Pompeius  returned  in  6r.  It 
was  again  thought  that  he  would  bring  his  army  into 
Rome,  and  so  rule  the  Senate.  But  he  did  not,  and 
came  back  to  Rome  as  a simple  citizen  (61).  He 
found,  however,  that  when  the  first  gratitude  was 
over  he  was  not  so  powerful  as  he  expected  to  be. 
Gradually  he  quarrelled  about  many  little  matters  with 
the  Senate.  Caesar  saw  this,  and  took  advantage 
of  it.  He  agreed  with  Pompeius  and  Crassus  that 
they  should  all  three  work  together  to  get  what  they 
each  wanted.  In  the  year  59  Caesar  was  made  consul, 
and  as  such  passed  an  Agrarian  Law,  which  was  to 
give  lands  to  Pompeius’  old  soldiers.  Then  a law  was 
passed  by  the  people  making  Caesar  the  governor  of 
Gaul  for  five  years,  and  putting  him  at  the  head  of 
a large  army. 

Caesar  had  now  got  what  he  wanted : he  had  got 
the  opportunity  of  showing  himself  to  be  a great 
general,  and  so  of  gaining  popularity  with  the  Roman 
people.  He  could  now  make  himself  the  equal  of 


THE  CIVIL  WAES  OF  ROME. 


75 


nil.] 

Pompeius,  and  hoped  soon  to  become  a greater  man 
than  he  was.  Above  all,  he  could  train  up  an  anny 
attached  to  him  and  ready  to  do  whatever  he  told  it. 

1 8.  Csesar  in  Gaul. — So  in  the  year  58  Caesai 
went  off  to  Gaul,  where  he  soon  found  plenty  to  do 
In  the  next  seven  years  he  succeeded  in  entirely  con 
quering  all  the  land  north  of  the  Pyrenees  and  west  o: 
the  Rhine.  He  even  crossed  over  to  Britain  (54), 
and,  though  he  did  not  stay  to  conquer  it,  he  first 
brought  the  Romans  into  the  land  where  the  English 
live  now,  though  the  British  alone  lived  there  then 
In  Gaul  Caesar  showed  what  a very  great  man  he  was 
He  was  busy  in  conquering  Gaul,  but  he  never  lost 
sight  of  things  in  Rome  at  the  same  time.  He  was 
a skilful  general,  and  also  a great  vmter  as  well, 
and  has  left  us  his  own  account  of  his  wars  in 
Gaul,  where  he  was  beloved  both  by  the  Roman 
soldiers  and  also  by  the  natives  of  Gaul.  He  was 
kind  to  those  that  he  conquered,  yet  he  always  took 
care  that  they  should  be  thoroughly  beaten.  Caesar 
made  roads  in  Gaul,  and  brought  in  Roman  ideas  and 
Roman  customs,  and  also  taught  all  his  officers  to 
deal  kindly  with  the  Gauls.  In  this  way  he  succeeded 
in  making  those  of  the  Gauls,  who  were  not  killed  or 
made  slaves,  quite  content  to  be  ruled  by  the  Romans. 
Though  he  was  only  there  ten  years  altogether,  and 
when  he  left  he  took  his  army  with  him,  still  the 
Gauls  did  not  rebel  against  Rome.  This  conquest 
of  Gaul  by  Csesar  is  the  greatest  instance  in  Roman 
history  of  the  way  in  which  Rome  could  not  only 
conquer,  but  could  bind  the  conquered  countries  to 
herself.  It  was  also  most  important  for  the  future 
of  Rome  herself  You  have  seen  how  greatly  the 
people  of  Italy  were  declining  in  numbers  and  in 
energy.  The  Gauls  became  children  of  Rome,  and 
you  will  soon  see  that  many  of  Rome’s  greatest  men 
came  from  Gaul.  Also  this  conquest  of  Gaul  by 
Csesar  first  brought  the  power  of  Rome  into  those 
parts  of  Europe  which  our  own  history  has  most  to 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[CHAP. 


76 

do  with.  Caesar’s  invasion  of  Britain  is  the  first  great 
fact  that  we  have  related  to  us  about  the  land  in 
which  our  fathers  afterwards  came  to  live. 

19.  Caesar’s  influence  in  Rome. — But  Caesaj 
had  to  keep  a close  watch  all  this  while  on  things  that 
were  going  on  in  Rome.  He  had  been  sent  to  Gaul 
first  for  five  years.  But  he  wanted  to  stay  there  longer 
to  get  more  money,  and  become  more  known  to  his 
soldiers ; also,  the  hordes  of  slaves  he  got  made  him 
rich  enough  to  pay  his  debts  in  Rome,  and  to  buy  over 
Co  his  side  many  men  who  were  powerful  with  the 
people.  He  could  only  stay  in  Gaul  if  Ppmpeius 
and  Crassus  would  help  him,  or  at  all  events  would 
not  prevent  it.  In  Rome  itself  there  was  great  con- 
fusion. Every  year  the  election  to  the  consulship 
caused  a war  of  parties.  There  were  constant  riots  in 
the  streets,  and  every  one  was  discontented.  Pom- 
peius  found  that  he  was  becoming  less  and  less  power- 
ful with  the  Senate,  and  also  with  the  people. 

20.  Plans  of  Caesar,  Pompeius,  and  Crassus. 
— Men  looked  to  Caesar  for  advice,  and  in  the  year  56 
Pompeius  and  Crassus  went  to  meet  him  at  Luca. 
There  they  agreed  to  unite  again,  and  get  by  their 
united  influence  all  that  each  of  them  wanted.  So  in 
the  next  year,  55,  Pompeius  and  Crassus  were  elected 
consuls,  by  the  help  of  soldiers  whom  Caesar  sent 
from  his  army  in  Gaul  to  vote  in  the  assembly  at 
Rome.  As  soon  as  they  became  consuls  they  pro- 
posed to  extend  Caesar’s  command  in  Gaul  for  five 
years  more.  Then  a tribune  proposed  to  the  people 
that  the  province  of  Syria  should  be  given  for  five 
years  to  Crassus,  and  the  province  of  Spain  for  five 
years  to  Pompeius. 

So  these  three  men,  Caesar,  Pompeius,  and  Crassus, 
divided  all  the  power  in  Rome.  The  Senate  could 
do  nothing  against  them.  The  old  Roman  Republic 
was  beginning  to  fall,  and  the  power  of  the  nobles, 
as  a body,  had  given  way  before  the  wealth  and  in- 
fluence of  individuals. 


THE  CIVIL  WARS  OF  ROME. 


n 


yiiL] 

21.  Death  of  Crassus. — Crassus  went  away  to 
Syria  at  once,  where  he  was  killed  in  battle  against  the 
Parthians,  in  the  year  53.  These  Parthians  were  the 
great  enemies  of  Rome  in  the  East  for  some  time  to 
come ; they  lived  among  the  deserts,  where  the  Romans 
found  it  hard  to  follow  them.  This  defeat  of  Crassus 
at  Charras  was  a severe  blow  to  the  Roman  power  in 
the  East.  But,  more  than  this,  the  death  of  Crassus 
broke  the  bond  of  union  between  Caesar  and  Pompeius : 
there  were  now  only  two  men,  and  not  three,  to  share 
the  power  in  Rome,  and  so  Caesar  and  Pompeius 
became  rivals,  with  no  one  to  stand  between  them. 

22.  Rivalry  of  Pompeius  and  Caesar. — Pom- 
peius had  not  gone  to  his  province  in  Spain  : he  waited 
in  Rome,  which  was  not  customary  for  the  magistrate  of 
a province.  Also,  he  got  the  Senate  to  give  him  the 
province  of  Spain  for  five  years  more.  By  this  means 
he  became  superior  to  Caesar,  for  when  Caesar  gave  up 
his  province  of  Gaul,  and  also  his  army,  as  he  would 
have  to  do  in  the  year  48,  Pompeius  would  still  be 
governor  of  Spain,  and  would  have  an  army  at  his 
command.  Caesar  would  have  to  come  to  Rome  and 
live  as  a private  noble,  while  Pompeius  would  have 
all  the  power,  as  being  general  of  an  army.  But  mean- 
while the  constant  riots  in  Rome  gave  more  and  more 
power  to  Pompeius.  The  Senate  could  do  very  little 
to  keep  order,  and  Pompeius  hoped  that,  if  he  waited, 
things  would  become  so  bad  that  he  would  be  called 
in  to  keep"  order,  and  so  would  get  all  the  power  for 
himself. 

Caesar’s  friends  of  course  did  not  like  this,  and 
Caesar  was  afraid  that  when  he  came  back  to  Rome  as 
a private  man  he  would  be  brought  to  trial  on  some 
charge  or  another  before  the  people,  and  then  would 
be  condemned  by  the  votes  of  Pompeius’  soldiers. 
There  was  no  certainty  what  might  happen,  and  Caesar 
was  determined  to  carry  out  his  own  plans,  and  to 
alter  the  government  of  Rome.  The  Senate  was  more 
afraid  of  him  than  of  Pompeius,  who  made  himself 


78 


ROMAN  HISTOR  K 


[CHAP 


the  head  of  the  party  of  the  nobles  and  those  who 
held  by  the  existing  form  of  government.  Caesar, 
on  the  other  hand,  was  the  leader  of  the  people, 
and  of  those  who  wished  for  a reform  in  the  govern- 
ment. It  was  soon  very  clear  to  every  one  that  the 
questions  in  dispute  would  never  be  settled  peaceably 
but  that  there  would  be  a great  civil  war. 

23.  Quarrel  of  Pompeius  and  Caesar. — This 
was  the  question  about  which  the  war  broke  out ; Cassar 
demanded  that  either  both  he  and  Pompeius  should 
give  up  their  provinces  at  the  same  time,  or  he  should 
be  allowed  to  stand  for  the  consulship  while  absent 
in  Gaul,  so  that  he  might  come  to  Rome  as  consul, 
and  be  as  strong  as  Pompeius  in  the  state.  Caesar 
was  at  the  head  of  an  army,  and  had  many  friends 
in  Rome,  but  the  Senate  did  not  know  how  strong 
he  was,  so  they  refused  his  proposals,  and  when 
two  of  the  tribunes  took  .Caesar’s  side  they  were 
threatened  with  loss  of  their  office.  They  fled  to 
Caesar,  who  now  had  a cause  for  war,  and  who 
advanced  into  Roman  ground,  passing  the  little  river 
Rubico,  which  separates  Gaul  from  Italy : he  said 
he  came  to  defend  the  tribunes  of  the  people  against 
the  Senate.  In  January,  49,  the  great  war  broke  out. 

24.  Civil  War  of  Pompeius  and  Csesar. — 
Pompeius  was  taken  by  surprise  when  Caesar  actually 
came  against  him,  and  when  he  found  that  troops  did 
not  gather  round  him  he  left  Rome,  with  the  consuls 
and  Senate,  and  sailed  to  Greece.  In  sixty  days  C$sar 
had  gained  possession  of  Italy : but  he  only  spent 
1 few  days  in  Rome,  and  then  hurried  to  Spain  to 
fight  Pompeius’  army  there.  In  the  battle  of  Ilerda 
he  defeated  Pompeius’  generals,  and  broke  up  their 
army.  Then  he  came  back  to  Rome,  and  by  his 
kindness  and  justice  won  over  all  those  who  did  not 
care  much  how  Rome  was  governed,  but  only  wanted 
to  live  peaceably. 

25.  Defeat  of  Pompeius. — Next  year  (48)  he 
crossed  over  to  Greece,  where  Pompeius  had  gathered 


trill.] 


THE  CIVIL  fVAES  OF  ROME. 


79 


a large  army,  and  the  great  battle  that  was  to  decide  the 
fate  of  Rome  was  fought  on  the  Pharsalian  plain.  Pom- 
peius’  army  was  twice  as  large  as  Caesar's,  but  Caesar’s 
troops  had  fought  with  him  in  Gaul,  and  he  knew 
he  could  trust  them.  It  is  said  that  he  gave  an  order 
to  his  men  before  the  battle  to  strike  at  the  enemies 
faces,  for  he  knew  that  a wound  in  the  face  would 
frighten  the  Roman  nobles.  After  a long  battle,  Caesar 
was  victorious.  Pompeius  did  not  stay  to  fight  again, 
but  fled  to  Egypt,  where  he  was  murdered  in  a boat  as 
he  was  landing : Caesar,  who  followed  after  him,  wept 
when  Pompeius’  head  was  brought  him.  He  used 
his  victory  very  mercifully,  and  did  not  put  any  one 
to  death,  for  he  did  not  only  want  to  conquer,  he 
wanted  his  conquest  to  last,  and  he  knew  that  he 
could  only  establish  his  own  power  on  justice  and 
mercy. 

26.  Caesar  in  the  Ka.st. — When  Caesar  followed 
Pompeius  to  Egypt,  he  found  there  a quarrel  going  on 
about  the  kingdom,  between  Ptolomaeus  XII,  a boy 
of  fourteen,  and  his  sister  Cleopatra.  Caesar  took  the 
side  of  Cleopatra,  and  made  her  queen  after  Ptolomaeus 
had  been  killed  in  battle.  Then  he  passed  to  Asia, 
where  he  defeated  a rebel  king  at  Zela,  and  wrote 
his  famous  letter  to  the  Roman  Senate  “ Veni,  vidi, 
vici,”  (I  came,  I saw,  I conquered.)  He  had  no 
sooner  reached  Rome  than  he  set  off  again  to  Africa, 
where  many  of  Pompeius’  party  had  assembled,  and 
were  gathering  troops  among  the  Africans.  They  were 
defeated  with  great  slaughter  at  Thapsus  (46). 

27.  Csesar  in  Rome. — Still  Caesar  could  not  rest, 
for  the  sons  of  Pompeius  had  raised  an  army  in  Spain, 
where  they  were  beaten  by  Caesar  after  a desperate 
battle  at  Munda  (45).  After  that  Caesar  came  back 
to  Rome  as  master  of  the  Roman  world.  The  Senate 
made  him  dictator  for  life,  and  gave  him  every  pos- 
sible honour  that  could  be  found.  But  Caesar  wished 
to  establish  his  pov^er  entirely,  and  to  hand  it  on 
to  others  after  him  ; so  he  wanted  to  be  made  kins 

6* 


8o 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[CHAf. 


at  once,  and  change  the  whole  form  of  the  Roman 
government  from  a Republic  to  a Monarchy — but 
a Monarchy  resting  on  the  people.  He  wanted  to 
take  in  amongst  the  number  of  the  Roman  citizens 
the  people  of  the  provinces,  as  soon  as  they  showed 
themselves  ready  for  it.  He  wanted  also  to  make  the 
Senate  a council  of  advisers  to  the  king,  and  he 
wanted  to  bring  into  it  not  only  Roman  nobles,  but 
also  the  chief  men  of  the  provinces. 

28.  Murder  of  Caesar. — Now,  many  of  the  Ro- 
mans disliked  these  changes,  and  disliked  Csesar.  So, 
just  as  he  was  beginning  to  settle  down  in  Rome  to  live 
quietly,  after  all  his  hard  work,  a plot  was  made  against 
him.  He  was  murdered  in  the  Senate-house  (March 
15,  44)  by  a band  of  men,  amongst  whom  M.  Junius 
Brutus  and  C.  Cassius  Longinus  were  the  chief.  They 
were  all  men  to  whom  Caesar  had  shown  great  kind- 
ness, but  they  thought  it  was  their  duty  to  maintain 
the  Roman  state,  instead . of  submitting  to  a single 
master : so  they  murdered  Caesar  in  the  name  of 
liberty.  Caesar  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-six,  and  is  perhaps 
the  greatest  man  in  all  history,  when  we  consider  both 
the  greatness  of  the  things  he  did,  and  the  wonder- 
ful powers  of  mind  and  body  which  he  showed.  He 
is  not  only  a great  general,  but  also  a great  statesman 
and  a great  writer.  He  had  many  faults,  for  the  times 
in  which  he  lived  were  full  of  wickedness;  but  the 
poor  people  liked  him,  and  his  soldiers  were  entirely 
devoted  to  him. 

29.  Antonius  and  Octavianus. — The  murder  of 
Csesar,  however,  did  not  restore  the  old  government  of 
the  Senate,  as  Brutus  and  Cassius  thought  it  would  do. 
It  only  brought  on  new  distiu-bances  and  civil  war 
for  the  next  thirteen  years.  Caesar  had  left  as  his 
heir  Caius  Octavius,  his  great-nephew,  the  son  of 
his  sister’s  daughter,  but  he  was  only  a boy  of 
the  age  of  eighteen  at  the  time  of  Cesar’s  death, 
and  was  being  educated  in  Greece.  By  Caesar’s  will 
he  was  adopted  as  his  son,  aind  so  changed  his  name 


VIII.]  THE  CIVIL  WARS  OF  ROME.  8i 

to  Caius  Julius  Caesar  Octavianus.  In  Rome,  how- 
ever, was  one  of  Caesar’s  generals,  Marcus  Antonius, 
who  stirred  up  the  people  against  Brutus  and  Cassius, 
so  that  they  had  to  leave  Rome.  Then  Caesar’s  old 
soldiers  gathered  round  Antonius  and  asked  to  avenge 
their  leader’s  death.  Antonius  hoped  by  means  of 
this  army  to  make  himself  master  of  Rome,  as  Caesar 
had  done.  But  Octavianus,  young  as  he  was,  was  wise 
and  cautious.  He  came  to  Rome,  and  made  himself 
popular  to  every  one.  Many  of  Caesar’s  old  soldiers 
came  round  him,  and  he  soon  became  powerful.  When 
war  broke  out  between  the  Senate  and  Antonius  he 
sided  with  the  Senate,  till  Antonius  was  defeated  in 
the  battle  of  Mutina  (43),  where  also  the  two  consuls 
who  were  commanding  for  the  Senate  were  killed. 
Then  Octavianus  came  to  Rome  with  his  troops,  and 
forced  his  own  election  as  consul.  Then,  having  got 
a position  of  real  power,  he  made  peace  with  Anton- 
ius, and  with  Marcus  Lepidus,  who,  as  governor  of 
part  of  Spain  and  Gaul,  had  an  army  at  his  command. 

30.  Second  Triumvirate. — Thus  was  formed  (43) 
what  is  known  as  the  second  triumvirate,  or  board  oj 
three  men.  Just  as,  twelve  years  before,  the  affairs  of 
Rome  had  been  settled  by  three  men,  Pompeius,  Caesar, 
and  Crassus,  so  now  were  they  settled  by  three  men  who 
found  themselves  at  the  head  of  armies,  Octavianus, 
Antonius,  and  Lepidus.  The  first  thing  they  did  was 
to  secure  themselves  by  putting  every  one  to  death 
of  whom  any  of  the  three  was  afraid,  just  as  Sulla  had 
done  before.  One  of  the  people  who  was  killed  at 
this  time  was  the  great  orator,  Marcus  Tullius  Cicero. 
He  had  stood  firmly  by  the  Senate,  and  had  spoken 
very  fiercely  against  Antonius  in  some  very  celebrated 
speeches,  so  he  was  killed,  at  the  age  of  sixty-four. 

When  they  had  thus  settled  matters  in  Rome,  they 
had  to  face  Brutus  and  Cassius,  who  had  gathered 
together  a large  army  in  Macedonia ; while  Sextus 
Pompeius,  the  son  of  Cnasus  Pompeius,  had  collected 
a fleet,  and  was  in  possession  of  Sicily.  But  Brutus 


82 


ROMAN  HISTOR  Y. 


[chap. 


and  Cassius  were  not  good  generals,  and  despaired 
too  soon  of  their  cause.  In  two  battles  fought  at 
Philippi  they  were  defeated  (42) : in  the  first  battle 
Cassius  committed  suicide,  and  in  the  second  Brutus 
did  the  same. 

31.  Octavianus  in  Italy. — After  this  battle  An 
tonius  went  to  the  East,  where  he  met  Cleopatra,  the 
queen  of  Egypt,  and  became  so  fond  of  her  that  he 
stayed  with  her  in  Egypt.  Octavianus  went  back  to 
Italy,  where  he  tried  to  establish  order.  It  was  at  last 
agreed  that  Antonius  should  rule  the  East,  Octavianus 
the  West,  and  Lepidus  Africa.  Octavianus  had  the 
hardest  work,  as  he  had  no  ships,  and  Sextus  Pompeius, 
who  had  a large  fleet,  could  prevent  the  corn-ships 
from  sailing  to  Rome,  and  so  could  produce  famine. 
Octavianus,  therefore,  had  to  get  together  a fleet  oi 
his  own,  and  also  to  try  and  keep  the  Romans  quiet. 
At  first  his  ships  were  defeated,  and  he  was  in  great 
difficulties,  but  at  last,  in  36,  he  succeeded  in  over- 
coming Pompeius,  who  was,  however,  joined  by  Lepi- 
dus, through  fear  of  Octavianus  growing  too  power- 
ful. Lepidus  was  defeated  and  deprived  of  his  power, 
and  Sextus  Pompeius  was  driven  to  take  refuge  in 
the  East,  where  he  was  put  to  death  by  Antonius. 

32.  Civil  War  of  Octavianus  and  Antonius. 
— It  was  now  Antonius’  turn  to  be  afraid  of  the  power 
of  Octavianus,  who  was  master  of  Italy,  which  he  had 
saved  from  great  distress,  and  where  he  had  quietly 
and  moderately  introduced  law  and  order.  All  Caesar’s 
old  soldiers  followed  him,  and  he  was  the  head  of  all 
the  old  political  party  of  Marius.  Antonius,  on  the 
other  hand,  became  more  and  more  disliked  at  Rome. 
He  lived  entirely  in  the  East,  where  he  was  altogether 
under  the  influence  of  Cleopatra,  and  followed  eastern 
habits  and  customs,  which  the  Romans  heard  of  with 
disgust.  So,  gradually,  a war  came  about  between 
Octavianus  and  Antonius,  which  was  settled  by  the 
battle  of  Actium,  in  the  year  31.  This  battle  was 
fought  at  sea,  off  the  west  coast  of  Greece,  and  was 


VIII.] 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  EMPIRE. 


83 


decided  by  the  flight  of  Cleopatra’s  ship  in  the  middle 
of  the  battle.  Antonins  was  so  distressed  at  this  thal 
he  followed  her ; and  then  all  his  ships,  seeing  theii 
general  run  away,  turned  and  fled  likewise.  Antonins 
was  pursued  to  Egypt,  where  he  attempted  to  commit 
suicide  on  hearing  Cleopatra  was  dead  : but  she  was 
not  dead,  and  he  lived  just  long  enough  to  see  her, 
but  died  in  time  to  escape  falling  into  the  hands  ol 
Octavianus.  Cleopatra  was  taken  prisoner,  but  com- 
mitted suicide  by  the  sting  of  an  asp,  or  poisonous 
serpent,  which  she  contrived  to  have  sent  to  her  in 
a basket  of  fruit.  She  was  the  last  queen  of  Egypt : 
after  her  death  it  was  made  a Roman  province. 


1.  Why  the  Romans  took  one  man  as  ruler. 
— So  now  again  the  Roman  world  was  under  the  rule 
of  one  man.  The  murder  of  Julius  Caesar  had  only  led 
to  thirteen  years  of  confusion,  and  at  the  end  of  that 
time  Caesar’s  adopted  son  stood  in  much  the  same 
position  as  his  father  had  done.  Every  one  was  now 
tired  of  these  civil  wars,  which  had  lasted  since  the 
times  of  Marius  and  Sulla,  for  more  than  fifty  years. 
Very  few  people  were  alive  who  had  seen  these  wars 
begin.  Very  few  had  ever  known  what  it  was  to 
live  under  a settled  government.  So  men  had  lost 
much  of  their  love  for  the  old  government  of  Rome, 
ind  were  contented  with  any  government  that  would 
pve  them  quiet  and  peace,  and  would  bring  back  law 
ind  order.  Almost  all  the  chief  Roman  nobles  had 
been  killed  in  these  late  wars.  There  was  no  family 
left  which  could  claim  to  be  as  great  as  the  Julian 
family.  Octavianus  was  by  far  the  most  powerful  man 
in  the  state,  and  there  was  no  means  of  getting  rid 
of  him,  or  governing  without  him.  After  the  battle  of 
Actium,  when  Octavianus  returned  to  Rome,  the  powei 


CHAPTER  IX. 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  EMPIRE. 


H 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap. 


of  the  state  passed  entirely  into  his  hands,  and  Rome’s 
government  slowly  changed,  in  reality  though  not  in 
name,  from  being  a Republic  to  being  a Monarchy, 
or  the  rule  of  one  man. 

2.  How  the  Empire  was  founded. — Octavi- 
anus,  however,  had  learned  from  the  fate  of  Julius  how 
dangerous  it  was  to  try  to  change  the  form  of  govern- 
ment openly ; he  had  learned  that  it  must  be  done 
slowly  and  quietly.  So  he  never  wanted  the  title  of 
“ king,”  nor  did  he  wish  for  any  extraordinary  powers. 
But  he  slowly  took  to  himself  all  the  old  magistracies, 
or  at  least  the  power  of  the  old  magistrates.  You 
remember  that  when  Rome  drove  out  her  kings  and 
became  a Republic,  she  did  not  make  any  violent 
change,  but  at  first  appointed  one  yearly  magistrate, 
and  then  two,  who  bore  the  kingly  power.  Then 
little  by  little  this  power  was  split  up,  and  pieces 
of  it  given  to  new  magistrates.  Well,  Octavianus 
took  to  himself  all  these  scattered  powers  one  by 
one,  and  so  became  a king  again,  though  he  avoided 
the  name  of  king.  He  took  the  title,  Imperator, 
which  means  the  holder  of  a military  command  from 
the  people.  It  is  this  title  which  has  been  shortened 
into  Emperor,  and  which  we  now  use  as  the  chief 
title  of  Octavianus  and  his  successors.  By  this  power 
of  Imperator  he  was  head  of  the  army,  and  the  use 
of  this  title  more  than  others  shows  what  the  new 
rule  was  really  founded  upon.  Then  he  took  the 
authority  of  Censor,  by  which  he  could  control  the 
appointments  to  the  Senate.  He  also  was  made 
princeps,  or  chief  man  of  the  Senate,  who  always 
spoke  first  on  every  question ; from  this  again  comes 
our  title  Prince.  By  these  powers  of  censor  and 
princeps  he  became  also  head  of  the  Senate.  Next 
he  received  the  tribunician  power  for  life,  and  as 
such  became  head  of  the  people.  Then  he  took 
the  consular  power  for  life,  and  so  was  the  chief 
magistrate  of  Rome.  Lastly,  he  became  chief  pontifex, 
>r  priest,  and  so  was  head  of  the  Roman  religion. 


«x.]  BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  EMPIRE,  85 

Thus  he  had  gathered  into  his  own  hands  the  control 
over  every  part  of  the  old  government,  and  also  held 
his  powers  for  life.  He  also  had  the  title  conferred 
upon  himself  of  Augustus,  or  the  Majestic,  just  as 
we  say  “Her  Majesty.”  It  is  by  this  name  of 
Augustus  that  Octavianus  is  always  known  in  his 
later  life. 

3.  Rule  of  Augustus. — Augustus  lived  quite 
simply  at  Rome,  without  any  show  of  grandeur.  He 
kept  watch  over  everything,  and  always  had  his  own 
way.  He  accustomed  the  Senate  and  the  people  to 
look  to  him  for  orders  what  to  do  about  everything. 
Sometimes  he  offered  to  resign  his  powers,  that  they 
might  see  that  they  could  not  do  without  him.  Once 
he  went  away  from  Rome,  and  at  the  next  elections 
there  was  a riot,  which  only  his  presence  could  put 
down.  It  was  by  these  means  of  trying  not  to  give 
offence  to  any  one,  and  of  doing  everything  under  the 
old  names,  and  so  not  seeming  to  make  any  change, 
that  Augustus  established  the  Empire  in  Rome. 

4.  Roman  Writers  under  Augustus.  — He 
ruled  the  Roman  world  from  b.c.  30  to  a.d.  14,  and 
the  Romans  were  happy  imder  his  rule  after  all  their 
wars.  His  reign  was  the  time  in  which  the  great 
Roman  writers  flourished,  and  their  works  are  full 
of  mentions  of  him.  It  was  in  his  honour  that 
Publius  Virgilius  Maro  wrote  his  poem  of  the  ^neid, 
to  tell  the  great  deeds  of  .^Eneas,  who  founded  Alba,  and 
from  whom  the  Julian  family,  to  which  Julius  Csesar 
had  belonged,  was  said  to  have  sprung.  Quintus 
Horatius  Flaccus,  and  Publius  Ovidius  Varo,  also 
wrote  poems  at  this  time : and  Titus  Livius  wrote 
his  great  history  of  Rome.  Augustus  was  fond  of 
having  literary  men  about  him,  and  used  to  encourage 
them  to  write.  Hence  it  is  customary  to  talk  about 
the  Augustan  age  of  literature  as  being  that  in  which 
there  were  the  best  writers,  and  they  were  the  most 
highly  esteemed. 

5.  Effects  of  the  Empire  on  the  Provinces. 


86 


ROMAN  HISTOR  K 


[chap 


— But  the  chief  thing  that  Augustus  did  was  the  general 
arrangement  of  the  government.  You  see  that  Rome’s 
government,  up  to  the  time  of  the  Empire,  had  been 
the  government  of  the  people  of  the  city  of  Rome  over 
all  the  peooles  they  had  conquered.  After  the  Social 
War  all  the  Italians  had  been  made  Roman  citizens, 
but  they  could  only  vote  at  Rome  itself,  and  of  course 
every  man  in  Italy  could  not  go  to  Rome  and  vote 
every  time  there  was  an  Assembly.  The  chief  power  in 
Rome  was  simply  that  of  the  rabble  of  Rome,  who  came 
and  voted  just  as  they  were  led  by  some  one  popular 
for  the  time.  The  Senate  had  been  always  trying 
to  keep  this  “Roman  people”  quiet  and  obedient 
to  itself,  but  had  failed  to  do  so.  When  the  Empire 
was  once  established  this  difficulty  was  settled : both 
Senate  and  people  had  to  obey  the  Emperor.  The 
power  of  governing  the  provinces  was  no  longer  left 
to  the  Roman  people,  but  went  either  directly  or  in- 
directly to  the  Emperor.  Thus,  under  the  Empire, 
the  Italians  gradually  lost  their  freedom,  and  the 
provincials  gradually  gained  equality  with  them. 

6.  Extent  of  the  Roman  Empire.^If  you 
look  at  the  map  at  the  beginning  of  the  book, 
you  will  see  how  large  was  the  extent  of  Rome’s 
dominions  under  Augustus.  After  a great  defeat 
in  North  Germany,  he  thought  that  Rome  had  con- 
quered far  enough,  and  that  it  was  only  necessary  for 
her  to  get  good  strong  frontiers.  His  wars  were 
mostly  carried  on  against  the  Germans,  and  he  at  last 
succeeded  in  making  the  two  great  rivers  of  the  Rhine 
ind  the  Danube  the  boundaries  of  the  Roman  terri- 
iory.  Thus  you  see  Rome’s  dominions  were  bounded 
in  the  west  by  the  Atlantic  Ocean ; on  the  north  by 
the  English  Channel,  the  Rhine,  the  Danube,  the 
Black  Sea,  and  the  mountains  of  Caucasus ; on  the 
east  by  the  Armenian  mountains,  the  Tigris,  and  the 
Arabian  desert ; and  on  the  south  by  the  African 
deserts.  Along  all  this  frontier  there  were  only  two 
weak  points  : one  was  towards  the  Germans,  and  the 


IX.] 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  EMPIRE. 


87 


Other  on  the  east  side  towards  the  Parthians.  These 
two  peoples,  the  Germans  and  the  Parthians,  were 
the  enemies  whom  Rome  had  chiefly  to  fear.  When 
Augustus  died  he  left  directions  to  his  successors  not 
to  increase  these  dominions  ; and  up  to  the  end  of 
the  Roman  Empire  only  two  other  countries  were 
added.  One  was  Britain,  which  had  already  been  in 
vaded  by  Julius  Caesar,  but  which  the  Emperoi 
Claudius  conquered  in  a.d.  51;  the- other  was  Dacia, 
which  was  added  by  the  Emperor  Trajan  in  a.d.  106. 

7.  New  Government  of  the  Provinces. — 
These  provinces  had  been  governed,  you  remember, 
by  those  who  had  been  magistrates  at  Rome,  and 
who  were  purely  Roman  governors,  settling  everything 
in  the  interests  of  the  Senate.  So  the  provinces 
had  been  oppressed  and  ill  treated  by  many  Romans 
who  wanted  to  make  money  out  of  them.  Augustus 
took  many  of  these  provinces  under  his  own  care, 
and  appointed  his  own  governor,  who  was  under 
his  control.  Even  in  the  other  provinces,  which 
still  were  under  the  care  of  the  Senate,  Augustus 
had  officers  who  kept  watch  over  the  governors 
of  the  Senate.  He  was  always  ready  also  to  hear 
the  complaints  of  the  people  of  the  provinces,  and 
used  to  see  that  justice  was  done  to  them.  In  this 
way  the  provinces  were  delivered  by  the  Emperor 
from  the  oppression  of  the  Roman  nobles.  The  pro- 
vinces before  had  been  looked  upon  as  estates  of  the 
Roman  people,  which  they  might  deal  with  as  they 
chose,  and  out  of  which  they  made  as  much  money  as 
they  could.  But  now  the  provinces  began  to  be  equal 
with  Italy,  and  both  alike  were  parts  of  a great  system 
of  government,  at  the  head  of  which  was  the  Emperor. 
Instead  of  being  the  mistress  of  all  the  peoples  she 
had  conquered,  Rome  became  only  their  capital  city. 

8.  Equality  between  Rome  and  the  Pro- 
vinces.— ^This,  then,  was  the  result  of  the  change 
which  was  brought  about  when  the  Roman  Republic 
began  to  have  an  Emperor  at  its  head.  You  see  that 


88 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[CHAF. 


in  Ais  point  the  emperors  went  back  to  the  old  plan 
which  Rome  had  followed  at  first ; they  did  not  want 
to  keep  the  conquered  people  outside  the  state,  and 
give  them  no  share  in  it,  but  they  gradually  gave  the 
provinces  Roman  citizenship,  and  so  made  them  all 
equal  to  Italy  herself.  It  was  because  the  nobles  of 
the  Senate  had  not  followed  this  plan  that  they  had 
failed  to  govern.  However,  this  gift  of  Roman  citizen- 
ship did  not  do  much  good  by  itself,  as  Roman  citizens 
could  only  vote  at  Rome  itself,  and  of  course  men 
living  away  from  Rome  could  not  go  there  to  vote, 
however  important  the  matter  might  be.  When  the 
emperors  gave  Roman  citizenship  to  cities  or  districts 
they  did  not  give  any  real  power  in  the  state,  for  there 
was  no  real  power  except  what  they  had  themselves,  but 
they  gave  the  rights  of  the  Roman  law  and  an  equal 
position  to  that  of  the  Romans  who  were  scattered 
about  as  officials  through  the  provinces.  So  you 
see  the  city  of  Rome  first  conquered  the  civilised 
world,  and  then  gradually  made  all  people  of  the 
world  citizens  of  Rome,  and  all  these  citizens  were 
equal  with  one  another,  but  all  had  to  obey  the 
Emperor  who,  however,  though  he  ruled  them  all, 
was  only  a Roman  citizen  himself. 

This  was  a very  curious  result  of  the  Empire,  and 
was  one  that  came  about  slowly : but  there  was 
this  result  at  once,  that  the  provinces  were  better 
governed.  The  people  were  very  grateful  to  Augustus 
for  this.  We  are  told  that  one  day,  as  he  was  sailing 
in  his  yacht  in  the  Bay  of  Baise,  a Greek  ship  which 
was  sailing  past  saw  him.  i ne  sailors  at  once  stopped 
the  ship,  and,  coming  to  his  yacht  clad  in  white  robes, 
they  sacrificed  to  him  as  to  a god,  saying  “ You  have 
given  us  happiness,  you  have  secured  to  us  our  lives 
and  our  goods.” 

9.  Wars  of  Augustus. — ^Though  Augustus  was 
for  the  most  part  busy  wuth  arranging  the  provinces,  he 
also  carried  on  some  wars.  The  most  important  of  these 
was  with  the  Germans,  whom  Augustus  wished  to  coo- 


IX.]  BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  EMPIRE.  89 

quer.  At  one  time  the  Romans  had  won  all  the 
country  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Elbe,  where  our 
forefathers  the  English  and  Saxons  were  living,  but  a 
German  chieftain,  Arminius,  as  the  Romans  called  hiin, 
attacked  the  Roman  general.  Varus,  and  destroyed  all 
his  troops  (a.d.  9).  Augustus  never  recovered  from 
grief  at  this  loss : it  is  said  he  used  to  call  out  in  his 
sleep,  “ Varus,  Varus,  give  me  back  my  legions.”  At 
all  events  Germany,  north  of  the  Rhine  and  Danube, 
was  safe  from  the  Romans,  and  although  wars  were 
made  afterwards,  they  were  not  wars  for  conquest,  but 
rather  wars  to  keep  down  the  Germans  and  prevent 
them  from  crossing  the  Rhine. 

10.  Death  of  Augustus.— Augustus  died  in  the 
year  a.d.  14,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six.  He  was  a 
very  clever  man,  who  had  always  known  how  to  use 
everything  for  his  own  advantage.  He  liked  to  act 
gently  rather  than  violently  j but  he  shrunk  from 
nothing  that  might  help  him  to  get  what  he  wanted. 
He  was  not  happy  in  his  private  life ; his  daughter 
vexed  him  greatly,  and  at  last  he  had  chosen  to 
succeed  him  his  step-son,  Tiberius  Claudius  Nero, 
who  was  not  of  the  Julian  house  by  birth,  but  was  the 
son  of  Augustus’  second  wife,  Livia,  by  a former 
marriage,  and  had  been  adopted  by  Augustus  as  his 
son. 

11.  Accession  of  Tiberius. — Tiberius  (14-27) 
had  been  greatly  employed  by  Augustus  in  state  affairs, 
and  had  for  the  last  two  years  shared  Augustus’  power. 
So  the  Senate,  when  Augustus  was  dead,  gave  him 
the  same  honours  as  Augustus  had  held,  and  he  be- 
came Emperor  in  the  same  way.  But  Tiberius  was 
not  so  pleasant  and  kindly  as  Augustus  had  been : 
he  was  rather  stem  and  sullen,  and  was  fifty-five  years 
old  when  he  came  to  power,  and  so  was  too  old  to 
change  his  ways  of  life.  He  did  not  keep  up  all 
the  old  forms  of  the  Republic  as  Augustus  had  done. 
He  did  away  altogether  with  the  Assemblies  of  the 
People  for  the  purpose  of  making  laws  : and  we  must 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap. 


<;o 

own  that  the  people  who  could  give  up  their  right 
so  easily  did  not  deserve  to  have  it.  The  Senate 
also  felt  itself  to  be  entirely  under  his  power,  and 
some  of  the  feeling  of  the  old  Roman  nobles  again 
awoke.  For  the  first  nine  years  Tiberius  did  a great 
deal  of  work : he  saw  that  the  provinces  were  rightly 
governed  and  that  the  laws  were  obeyed.  But  he 
felt  that  he  was  not  liked,  and  he  became  jealous  ol 
his  nephew,  Germanicus,  who  was  very  popular  with 
all  classes.  So  he  grew  suspicious  and  tyrannical, 
and,  unhappily,  the  state  of  things  in  Rome  allowed 
him  to  be  as  cruel  as  he  pleased. 

12.  Evils  of  the  Government  of  the  Em 
perors. — We  have  seen  what  was  the  good  side  o( 
this  new  government  of  Emperors, — the  provinces  were 
freed  from  oppression,  and  men  became  more  equal. 
But  we  must  now  look  at  the  bad  side  of  it,  of  which 
Tiberius  and  his  successors  show  us  only  too  much.  The 
people  who  lived  in  Rome  were  very  different  from 
what  they  had  been  in  the  days  when  the  Roman 
people  ruled  for  themselves.  The  old  Roman  nobles 
had  died  out,  and  in  their  places  had  grown  up 
a large  body  of  men,  who  owed  their  riches  to  the 
Emperor,  who  had  not  been  bom  in  Rome  at  all, 
and  who  cared  very  little  about  the  old  customs. 
The  upper  classes  in  Rome  were  very  rich,  very 
luxurious,  and  very  lazy.  The  lower  classes  in  Rome 
were  no  longer  the  farmers  in  Italy,  but  were  a mob 
of  people  who  had  come  together  from  every  side 
to  live  at  Rome,  because  it  was  cheap  to  live  there, 
md  there  were  plenty  of  amusements.  A great  part  of 
:hem  had  come  to  Rome  as  slaves,  and  had  managed 
to  be  set  free.  Now  this  mob  cared  about  nothing 
except  how  they  could  get  bread  without  doing  any 
work,  and  amusements  without  paying  for  them.  So 
long  as  the  emperor  took  care  that  they  had  these, 
they  did  not  trouble  themselves  about  what  he  did. 

Of  course  the  emperor’s  power  reallv  rested  on  the 
army : so  long  as  the  army  obeyed  him  he  could  do 


tx.] 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  EMPIRE. 


9' 


what  he  pleased,  and  he  had  a guard,  known  as  the 
Pratorian  Guard,  of  about  6,000  men  in  Rome  itself. 

15  Rise  of  a class  of  Informers. — In  this  state 
of  things  the  Senate  lost  its  sense  of  freedom ; it  had 
very  little  to  do,  and  yet  its  members  wanted  to  have 
something  to  make  speeches  about.  So  they  took 
to  accusing  one  another  of  different  crimes  against 
the  emperor,  and  they  showed  their  cleverness  in 
finding  out  new  sorts  of  crimes  that  might  be  done 
against  him.  Thus,  one  man  was  brought  to  trial 
because  he  had  melted  down  a silver  image  of  the 
emperor  to  make  plate  for  his  own  table.  At  first 
Tiberius  would  not  allow  trials  to  go  on  for  such 
charges,  but,  when  he  had  grown  suspicious,  he  used 
this  temper  of  the  Senate  for  his  own  purposes.  Those 
whom  he  was  afraid  of  were  got  rid  of  in  this  way. 
There  grew  up  a class  of  men  who  started  the  trade 
of  mformers,  who  got  up  these  charges  against  any 
one  whom  they  thought  the  emperor  would  like  to 
see  put  to  death,  and  who  made  large  fortunes  by 
getting  a share  of  the  property  of  the  condemned 
man.  In  this  way  almost  all  that  remained  of  the 
Roman  nobles  were  put  to  death.  The  rich  and 
distinguished  men  lived  in  constant  fear  that  they 
would  be  accused.  Even  Tiberius  himself  was  fright- 
ened ; he  left  Rome  and  went  to  the  little  island  of 
Capreae,  where  he  lived,  amongst  astrologers,  a gloomy 
and  wicked  life. 

14.  End  of  the  Reign  of  Tiberius. — But,  though 
Tiberius  had  left  Rome,  he  was  still  regarded  as  its 
ciiief  ruler,  and  this  shows  you  how  great  a change 
had  already  come  over  Roman  ideas.  The  govern- 
ment of  Rome  had  now  become  a power  belonging  to 
a person,  and  not  to  the  state.  Tiberius  gave  his 
power  tc  others  to  exercise  for  him,  and  Rome  was 
governed  by  the  captain  of  the  Praetorian  Guard, 
..Elius  Sejanus,  who  was  very  cruel,  and  who  hoped  to 
succeed  Tiberius.  He  killed  almost  all  the  emperor’s 
relations,  till  at  last  Tiberius  was  afra-id  of  a con- 


92 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[CHAP, 


spiracy  against  himself,  and  sent  a letter  to  the  Senate, 
ordering  them  to  make  Sejanus  prisoner.  The  letter 
was  a long  one,  and  was  read  aloud  in  the  Senate 
while  Sejanus  was  there,  expecting  that  it  contained 
the  news  of  some  new  honour  for  himself.  At  the 
end  of  the  letter  was  the  order  to  arrest  him ; Sejanus 
was  instantly  seized  3 all  who  had  been  his  friends 
before  left  him  at  once;  and  on  the  way  to  prison 
he  saw  the  people  pulling  down  his  statues,  which 
had  been  put  up  in  the  streets.  He  was  put  to 
s J death  at  once  in  prison.  This  will  show  you  how 
^ the  Romans,  when  once  they  had  lost  their  freedom, 
lost  also  all  their  nobleness  of  character,  and  became 
( mean  and  slavish  and  unfeeling.  Tiberius  died,  being 
glo'opiy  and  wretched  to  the  last,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
l 1 1'  eight,  and  every  one  at  Rome  was  glad  when  he  died. 
\ 15.  Caius  Caligula. — But  the  next  emperor,  Cains 

(37-41),  was  quite  as  bad,  and  shows  still  more  the 
bad  results  of  letting  one  man  have  such  great  power 
as  the  emperors  had.  He  was  the  grandson,  by 
adoption,  of  Tiberius,  and  was  the  son  of  Germanicus, 
whom  the  Romans  had  loved  so  much.  He  is  gener- 
ally called  Caligula,  which  means  a “ little  boot,”  and 
was  a nickname  given  him  by  his  father’s  soldiers. 
Caius  became  mad  when  he  was  emperor.  He  was 
always  weak-headed,  and  could  sleep  only  very  little, 
and  so  his  weakness  and  restlessness,  when  he  had  the 
great  power  of  emperor,  led  him  to  give  way  to  the 
wildest  fancies.  He  had  all  the  ships  of  Rome  put 
together  on  the  sea  across  the  Bay  of  Baias,  and  then 
covered  with  planks,  on  which  was  laid  earth,  and 
trees  were  planted.  Then  he  rode  along  this  in 
solemn  procession,  that  he  might  say  he  had  ridden 
on  horseback  on  the  sea.  On  things  like  this  he 
spent  so  much  money  that  he  had  to  put  rich  men  to 
death,  that  he  might  seize  their  property.  So  terrible 
at  last  was  his  cruelty  that  a conspiracy  was  made 
against  him,  and  he  was  murdered  by  some  of  his 
servants. 


IX.] 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  EMPIRE. 


93 


16.  Claudius.— For  a time  the  Senate  tried  to 
rule  Rome;  but  the  Praetorian  Guard  paid  no  atten- 
tion to  them,  and  made  Claudius  emperor,  who  was 
brother  of  Germanicus,  and  uncle  of  Caius.  He  had 
always  been  neglected,  and  looked  upon  as  stupid ; 
in  fact,  he  would  have  been  put  to  death  long  before 
if  he  had  not  been  despised  as  useless.  The  Prae- 
torians found  him  hiding  in  the  palace  of  Caius ; one 
of  them  saw  his  feet  behind  the  tapestry  with  which 
the  waill  was  hung : he  dragged  him  out,  aind,  on 
seeing  who  he  was,  cried  out  that  he  should  be 
emperor.  All  the  rest  agreed,  aind  the  Senate  was 
obliged  to  give  way. 

Claudius  (41-54)  ruled  well  enough  when  left  to 
himself,  but  he  did  not  know  how  to  manage  business, 
and  so  things  were  done  for  him  by  his  wife,  or  his 
servants,  who  were  all  wicked  people.  In  the  year  43 
Claudius  crossed  over  to  Britain,  and  the  conquest  of 
the  island  by  the  Romans  was  begun.  Claudius  was 
very  good  to  the  Gauls,  and  gave  many  of  them  the 
Roman  citizenship;  so  he  was  called  “the  father  of 
the  provinces.”  He  had,  however,  two  very  wicked 
wives.  The  second  one,  Agrippina,  was  also  his 
niece : she  was  a widow,  and  persuaded  him  to  adopt 
her  son,  Lucius  Domitius  Nero.  Then  she  poisoned 
her  husband,  to  make  her  son’s  succession  to  the 
empire  quite  sure. 

17.  Nero. — Nero  (54-68)  is  known  as  a monster  of 
cruelty,  who  put  to  death  every  one  whom  he  chose. 
He'even  killed  his  mother,  who  had  done  so  much  for 
him : first  he  tried  to  drown  her  by  having  the  ship 
gunk  in  which  she  was  sailing,  and  afterwards,  when 
she  was  saved  from  the  water,  he  sent  a soldier  to  kill 
her.  Nero  had  no  care  for  anything.  In  the  year  64 
there  was  a great  fire  in  Rome,  and  Nero  went  up  to 
a hill  that  he  might  see  it  better,  and  fiddled  while  the 
city  burned.  Many  suspected  that  he  gave  orders  to 
spread  the  fire  farther  that  it  might  make  a finer  sight 
Then  afterwards  the  Christians  were  accused  of  having 


TABLE  SHOWING  THE  DESCENT  OF  THE  JULIAN  EMPERORS. 


94 


HOMAN  HISTOR  V 


[chat 


B 

6 


IX.] 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  EMPIRE. 


95 


made  the  fire,  and  many  of  them  were  put  to  death  on 
the  charge  of  general  hatred  to  mankind. 

18.  Growth  of  Christianity. — Jesus  Christ  lived 
in  the  time  of  Augustus  and  Tiberius,  and  Christianity 
had  been  quietly  spreading  ever  since  among  the 
poorer  classes  all  over  the  Roman  Empire.  At  first 
the  Christians  were  disliked,  because  they  refused  to 
do  so  many  things  which  every  one  else  did.  All 
games  and  amusements  were  connected  with  the  wor- 
ship of  some  of  the  heathen  gods,  and  so  the  Christians 
did  not  go  to  them.  But  there  had  grown  up  also, 
under  the  Empire,  a custom  of  worshipping  the  em- 
peror as  a god.  This  may  seem  strange  to  you,  when 
you  think  what  sort  of  men  these  emperors  were ; but 
all  the  old  religions  had  really  died  out  before  Rome’s 
conquering  power : they  .had  been  national  or  local 
religions,  and  had  no  meaning  to  peoples  who  had 
lost  their  nationality  and  become  parts  of  a great 
empire.  So  the  only  thing  that  men  all  had  in  com- 
mon was  obedience  to  the  emperor,  and  the  emperor 
was  the  most  powerful  thing  they  knew  of : so  they 
set  up  statues  to  him,  and  worshipped  him.  The 
Christians  could  not  do  this,  and  so  could  not  appear 
at  the  public  festivals,  when  sacrifices  were  offered  to 
the  emperor.  This  was  the  reason  why  they  were 
looked  upon  as  unsocial,  and  haters  of  mankind,  as 
wen  as  unloyal  to  the  emperor. 

19.  Death  of  Nero. — At  last  Nero’s  cruelty  could 
no  longer  be  endured.  The  provinces  grew  angry  at  his 
doings,  and  the  armies  murmured.  The  Roman  people 
would  do  nothing  for  him,  and,  deserted  by  every  one 
at  last  he  committed  suicide,  at  the  age  of  thirty. 

20.  Disturbances  in  the  Empire. — Nero  left 
no  children,  and  there  was  no  member  of  the  Julian 
family  to  succeed  him.  There  now  arose  the  difficult 
question  for  the  Romans,  how  the  succession  to  the 
Empire  was  to  be  settled.  It  had  seemed  to  belolng 
of  right  to  Augustus,  and  to  his  family  by  adoption 
after  him,  for  the  Julian  family  had  always  been  power- 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap, 


96 

ful  in  Rome,  and  some  even  thought  that  it  had 
sprung  from  the  old  gods  of  Rome ; but,  now  that  the 
Julian  family  had  come  to  an  end,  there  was  no  means 
of  knowing  who  would  be  the  right  man  to  appoint 
The  election  was  made  by  the  Senate,  but  it  could 
be  of  no  use  unless  the  army  agreed. 

21.  Galba. — ^The  Senate  elected  first  Servius  Sul- 
picius  Galba  (69),  who  was  general  of  the  army  in 
Spain,  and  a Roman  noble.  He  wished  to  govern 
well,  but  was  stem  to  the  Praetorian  Guards,  and 
offended  the  man  who  was  most  popular  with  the 
Romans,  Marcus  Salvius  Otho.  Otho  expected  that 
Galba  would  adopt  him  as  his  son,  and  so  that  he 
would  succeed  him  as  emperor,  but  Galba  adopted 
some  one  else;  so  Otho  persuaded  the  Praetorian 
Guards  to  rise  and  kill  Galba,  and  proclaim  him  em- 
peror. 

22.  Otho. — But  the  soldiers  on  the  German  frontier 
were  not  willing  that  the  Praetorian  Guards  should 
make  emperors  as  they  pleased.  They  proclaimed 
their  own  general,  Aulus  Vitellius,  and  marched  to 
Italy.  Otho  and  his  Praetorians  were  defeated,  and  Otho, 
after  a reign  of  three  months,  committed  suicide  (69). 

23.  Vitellius. — ^Vitellius  was  soon  found  to  be  of 
no  use  as  an  emperor : he  was  distinguished  only  for 
gluttony,  and  spent  all  the  money  he  could  find  in 
eating  and  drinking.  The  soldiers  in  Syria  refused  to 
have  him  as  emperor,  and  proclaimed  their  own 
general,  Titus  Flavius  Vespasianus.  Vitellius  was 
attacked  on  all  sides,  and,  after  great  tumults,  in  which 
the  city  of  Rome  suffered  a great  deal,  he  was  put  to 
death,  and  Vespasian  was  made  emperor. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  FLAVIAN  EMPERORS. 

I.  The  Flavian  Emperors  (69-192.) — With  Ves 
pasian  (69-79)  begins  a new  line  of  Emperors,  which 


X.] 


THE  FLA  VI AN  EMPERORS. 


97 


lasted  for  the  next  hundred  years.  These  are  called 
the  Flavian  Emperors,  because  Vespasian  was  of  the 
Flavian  family,  and  the  emperors  who  succeeded  after 
the  death  of  his  sons  followed  in  his  footsteps,  and 
looked  to  him  as  the  founder  of  their  power.  During 
these  hundred  years  Rome  was  governed  by  good 
emperors,  with  only  one  exception,  and  the  people 
were  prosperous  and  happy. 

2.  Change  made  by  Vespasian. — This  was  very 
greatly  due  to  the  wisdom  of  Vespasian,  who  brought 
back  order  to  the  state,  and  discipline  to  the  army. 
At  first  his  position  was  by  no  means  easy,  for  he.  had 
none  of  the  claims  to  rule  which  the  Julian  Caesars 
had  had : he  was  not  sprung  from  a very  distinguished 
family,  nor  had  he  done  very  great  deeds  for  the 
Roman  people.  He  was  only  a good  general,  and  a 
wise  and  prudent  governor  of  a Roman  province,  but 
there  were  many  other  men  who  might  claim  to  be  as 
good  as  he  was.  He  could  not  expect  any  of  the  old 
respect  for  the  person  of  the  emperor,  or  any  belief  in 
his  divine  descent.  So  Vespasian  laid  all  this  aside, 
and  tried  to  go  back  to  the  old  ideas  of  governing  the 
state : he  tried  to  rule  by  means  of  the  Senate,  to 
which  he  paid  great  honours ; he  tried  to  bring  back 
again  the  idea  of  the  rule  of  the  city  of  Rome  over  the 
world  : he  always  lived  at  Rome  himself,  and  lived  as 
simply  as  Augustus  had  done.  He  did  not  set  himself 
above  the  laws,  as  Caius  and  Nero  had  done,  but  was 
careful  in  everything  to  obey  them. 

Thus,  you  see,  he  had  no  claim  to  rule  except  that 
he  could  rule  well ; and  so  he  and  those  who  followed 
him  did  their  best  for  the  prosperity  and  comfort  of 
the  people.  But  they  did  no  more  than  this : they 
did  not  make  the  people  wiser,  or  stronger,  or  more 
fit  to  govern  themselves,  and  so  it  happened  that  this 
prosperous  time  came  to  an  end,  vuthout  any  fault  on 
the  part  of  the  emperors,  in  confusion  and  distress. 

However,  for  the  time,  Vespasian  put  down  the 
luxury  and  wickedness  which  had  been  growing  greater 


5>8 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap 


and  greater  in  Rome  under  the  last  emperors.  Bj 
living  a simple  life  himself,  he  made  the  senators 
live  better,  and  by  obeying  the  laws  himself  he  taught 
others  to  do  the  same.  We  never  find  after  his  reign 
the  same  wickedness  as  there  had  been  before. 

3.  Titus. — Titus,  Vespasian’s  son,  put  down  a 
rising  of  the  Jews,  besieged  Jerusalem,  and,  after  a 
long  siege,  took  it  : the  Jews  resisted  to  the  last, 
and  the  whole  city,  as  well  as  the  Temple,  was 
burned  (70).  The  Jews  were  scattered  through  other 
countries,  and  the  Roman  Empire  was  once  more 
at  peace.  Titus  (79-81)  succeeded  his  father.  He 
was  kind  and  liberal  to  all  men,  and  was  called  the 
“ Darling  of  mankind.”  At  the  beginning  of  his  reign 
was  a terrible  eruption  of  Mount  Vesuvius,  which 
destroyed  the  cities  of  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii, 
and  covered  them  over  with  ashes.  They  have  now 
been  dug  up  again,  and  you  can  still  see  there  what  a 
Roman  city  was  in  those  days,  as  many  of  the  houses 
still  remain  almost  the  same  as  when  they  were  first 
buried  by  the  cinders  and  ashes.  Vespasian  and  his 
son  Titus  built  splendid  buildings,  such  as  the  Baths 
of  Titus  and  the  Colosseum,  which  were  both  open, 
free  of  charge,  to  all  the  people  of  Rome.  The  baths 
were  a sort  of  club,  where  everyone  met  and  talked, 
while  the  Colosseum  was  a great  theatre  for  games  and 
shows.  The  emperors  had  to  keep  the  people  in 
good  humour  by  providing  such  things  for  them. 

4.  Domitian. — Domitian  (81-96)  was  very  different 
from  his  brother  Titus,  for  he  was  cruel  and  gloomy, 
ind  took  pleasure  in  bloodshed.  During  his  reign 
i great  general,  Caius  Julius  Agricola,  was  carrying 
on  the  conquest  of  Britain.  He  advanced  northwards 
as  far  as  the  Grampian  mountains,  and  defeated  the 
Caledonians.  After  his  time  the  Roman  power  over 
Britain  was  firmly  established.  Domitian  reigned  till 
a conspiracy  was  formed  against  him  on  accoimt  ol 
his  cruelty,  and  he  was  murdered  in  his  palace  in 
the  year  96. 


X.] 


THE  FLA  VIAN  EMPERORS. 


99 


5.  Nerva. — After  the  murder  of  Domitian  the 
Senate  proclaimed  as  emperor  an  old  senator,  Marcus 
Cocceius  Nerva  (96-98).  He  had  always  been  very 
kind,  and  was  liked  by  all.  He  tried  to  reign  peace- 
ably, and  to  forget  all  the  crimes  that  had  been  done 
in  the  reign  of  Domitian,  but  the  Praetorian  Guards 
rose  and  demanded  the  death  of  the  murderers  of 
Domitian,  whom  they  seized  and  put  to  death  against 
Nerva’s  will.  But  Nerva  was  determined  not  to  let 
them  do  this  again  : so  he  adopted  as  his  son  and 
successor  to  the  Empire,  Marcus  Ulpius  Trajanus, 
who  was  general  of  the  troops  on  the  Rhine,  and  who 
would  be  able  to  keep  the  Praetorian  Guards  in  order. 
Then  Nerva  died,  after  reigning  sixteen  months. 

6.  Trajan. — Trajan  (98-117)  was  the  first  emperor 
who  was  not  of  Roman,  or  even  Italian  birth.  He 
was  a native  of  Spain,  and  his  family  had  risen  by 
its  merit  The  fact  that  Trajan  could  now  be  made 
emperor  with  the  approval  of  every  one,  shows  how 
the  differences  between  Italy  and  the  provinces  were 
going  away,  and  how  the  government  of  the  emperors 
was  bringing  equality  amongst  all  men. 

With  Trajan  begins  a line  of  emperors,  who  ruled 
well,  and  who  were  great  as  well  as  good  men. 
The  Romans  were  very  happy  under  their  rule,  and 
the  century  dmring  which  they  reigned  was  looked 
upon  as  the  happiest  time  in  the  history  of  Rome. 

Under  these  emperors  the  Empire  did  not  pass  on 
from  father  to  son,  but  each  one  adopted  as  his  son 
and  successor  the  fittest  man  he  knew  for  so  high 
a place.  Trajan  set  the  example  of  this  to  those  who 
came  after  him.  He  lived  in  Rome  simply  and  quietly, 
and  was  so  loved  by  the  people  that  he  was  afraid  ol 
no  one.  When  he  came  to  Rome  first,  he  came  with- 
out any  soldiers,  but  simply  walked  through  the  streets 
among  the  people  with  his  wife.  When  they  entered 
the  palace,  his  wife  Plotina  turned  and  said  to  the 
people,  that  she  entered  her  palace  contentedly,  and 
woiUd  be  willing  to  leave  it  as  contentedly.  The  Senate, 


lOO 


ROMAN  HISTOR  Y. 


[CHAF. 


the  people,  and  the  soldiers  all  liked  Trajan  equally 
He  pleased  the  Senate  by  treating  them  with  respect ; 
he  pleased  the  people  by  his  kindness  and  his  splendid 
buildings  in  Rome,  where  he  made  a great  forum,  or 
open  square,  with  galleries  all  round,  and  large  halls 
for  public  business  and  for  libraries  and  law-courts 
In  the  middle  of  this  stood  a tall  column  with  sculp 
tures  all  over  it,  showing  Trajan’s  victories  over  the 
Dacians. 

7.  Trajan’s  Wars. — Trajan  was  the  first  warlike 
emperor : he  pleased  the  soldiers  because  he  was 
a brave  general,  and  in  the  year  loi  he  crossed 
the  Danube  and  conquered  the  Dacians,  who  had 
long  been  troublesome  neighbours  to  the  Romans. 
The  coimtry  between  the  Danube,  the  Theiss,  the 
Dneister,  and  the  Carpathian  mountains  was  made 
into  a new  province  called  Dacia. 

Trajan  was  not  happy  in  times  of  peace,  so  he  took 
advantage  of  a disturbance  in  Armenia  to  make  an 
expedition  into  the  East  (114).  He  seems  to  have 
had  a great  plan  of  conquest  there,  but  after  marching 
as  far  as  the  Persian  Gulf  he  came  back,  and  died 
at  Selinus  in  Cilicia,  in  117.  It  was  very  doubtful  who 
was  to  succeed  him,  and  on  his  death-bed  he  is  said 
to  have  adopted  Publius  .^lius  Hadrianus,  who  had 
married  his  niece.  Many  believed  that  this  adoption 
had  never  really  been  made,  but  was  a fiction  of 
Plotina  to  avoid  any  disturbance.  However,  the 
soldiers  believed  it,  and  received  Hadrian  as  emperor. 

8.  Hadrian. — Hadrian  (117-138)  at  once  gave  up 
all  Trajan’s  conquests  in  the  East  and  went  to  Rome. 
It  was  indeed  useless  for  Rome  to  try  and  spread  hei 
government  in  distant  lands,  where  a large  army  would 
have  to  be  kept  up  always  at  a great  cost.  Hadrian 
did  not  care  for  war,  but  spent  his  time  in  travelling 
about  the  provinces,  and  seeing  that  they  were  well 
governed,  and  that  his  troops  were  well  trained.  He 
was  the  first  emperor  who  did  this,  and  who  behaved 
as  ruler  of  the  whole  world,  and  not  only  of  Rome 


X.] 


THE  FLA  VLAN  EMPERORS. 


loi 


and  Italy.  He  passed  over  even  into  Britain,  where 
he  found  that  the  Roman  manners  and  customs  had 
been  followed  by  the  people,  so  that  they  had  become 
quite  like  the  Romans  themselves.  To  protect  the 
boundaries  of  the  Roman  province,  he  built  a wall 
between  the  mouth  of  the  Tyne  and  the  Solway,  which 
could  easily  be  guarded  by  soldiers,  so  as  to  prevenl 
the  northern  peoples,  who  had  not  been  civilised  by 
Rome,  from  coming  down  to  plunder.  In  the  same 
way,  wherever  he  went  he  ordered  useful  buildings 
to  be  built,  and  did  all  he  could  for  the  people.  He 
travelled  through  almost  all  the  provinces,  and  as  a 
ruler  we  may  look  upon  him  as  the  most  useful  one 
whom  Rome  ever  had.  He  adopted  Titus  Aurelius 
Antoninus,  a native  of  Gaul. 

9.  Antoninus  Pius. — Antoninus  (138-161)  was 
called  Pius,  or  the  affectionate,  on  account  of  the  affec- 
tion he  had  shown  to  his  adoptive  father,  Hadrian. 
He  was  a good  and  kindly  ruler,  who  was  looked  upon 
eveiywhere  as  the  “ Father  of  his  people.”  He  had 
been  ordered  by  Hadrian  to  adopt  for  his  sons  Marcus 
Aurelius,  a young  man  of  the  age  of  seventeen,  and 
Lucius  Verus,  a boy  of  the  age  of  seven.  Antoninus 
married  Marcus  to  his  daughter,  and  gave  him  at 
once  a share  in  the  duties  of  emperor,  and  so  Marcus 
grew  up  to  be  the  wisest  and  best  of  the  Roman 
emperors. 

JO.  Marcus  Aurelius. — On  the  death  of  Anton- 
inus, Marcus  Aurelius  became  emperor  (161-180).  He 
made  his  brother,  Lucius  Verus,  emperor  as  well  as 
himself;  but  Verus  was  quite  unworthy  of  the  position, 
and  would  have  behaved  himself  like  Nero  if  Marcus 
had  not  kept  him  back.  Luckily  he  died  in  169,  and 
left  Marcus  free. 

Though  he  was  so  good,  Marcus  had  a very  un- 
happy reign.  He  would  gladly  have  spent  his  days  at 
Rome  in  study,  but  he  was  obliged  to  leave  Rome  and 
spend  his  days  in  war.  The  German  peoples  now 
began  to  cross  the  Roman  frontier.  All  along  the 


103 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap. 


Danube  and  the  Upper  Rhine  the  Romans  were 
attacked  by  the  Germans.  The  reason  of  this  partly 
was  that  the  Germans  themselves  were  being  attacked 
at  the  same  time  by  the  Slavonian  peoples,  who  lived 
in  Russia,  and  so  they  fled  from  them  till  they  came 
against  the  Romans.  Marcus  Aurelius  fought  against 
these  Germans,  and  drove  them  back ; but  he  saw 
how  hard  it  was  for  him  to  do  so,  and  he  was  unhappy 
at  the  thoughts  of  what  would  happen  afterwards. 
Another  thing  which  distressed  him  was  that  his  wife 
Faustina,  the  daughter  of  Antoninus  Pius,  was  a very 
wicked  woman,  and  behaved  herself  very  ill.  His  son 
also,  Commodus,  did  not  promise  well  So,  altogether, 
Marcus  Aurelius  saw  with  sadness  that  nothing  but 
calamities  were  likely  to  happen  after  his  death.  He 
tried  to  keep  them  off  for  a while,  but  he  saw  no  hope 
of  putting  an  end  to  them.  He  died  as  he  was  fighting 
against  the  Germans,  in  the  year  i8o,  at  Vienna. 

11.  Change  of  the  Roman  Empire. — With 
Marcus  Aurelius  the  line  of  the  good  emperors  comes 
to  an  end,  and  the  best  days  of  the  Roman  Empire  were 
over.  No  longer  was  the  Empire  in  peace  both  at 
home  and  abroad,  but  the  barbarians  along  the  frontiers 
had  grown  stronger,  while  Rome’s  armies  had  grown 
weaker.  At  the  same  time,  also,  within  Rome’s  do- 
minions themselves,  the  people  were  growing  feebler, 
and  the  power  of  the  state  was  falling  into  the  hands 
of  the  soldiers.  From  this  time  forward  the  Empire 
had  no  longer  to  think  about  governing  the  provinces, 
but  about  defending  them.  The  old  boast  that  the 
Roman  Empire  meant  the  peace  of  the  world  had  now 
passed  away.  But  from  this  time  the  Empire  stands 
forward  as  the  defender  of  the  civilised  world  against 
the  invasions  of  uncivilised  barbarians.  In  this  way, 
too,  it  was  the  defender  of  the  Christian  peoples  against 
the  heathen  invaders,  and  this  fact  led  the  emperors 
in  time  to  become  Christians  themselves. 

12.  Commodus. — In  the  reign  of  Commodus  (i8rv 
193)  the  signs  of  these  disasters  may  be  seen  only  too 


XI.  J 


THE  FLA  VIAN  EMPERORS. 


103 


clearly.  Commodus  did  not  care  to  carry  on  trouble- 
some wars  as  his  father  had  done.  He  went  back  at 
once  to  Rome,  and  there  gave  himself  up  to  pleasure. 
The  government  was  carried  on  by  a minister  named 
Perennis,  who  made  himself  unpopular  to  the  soldiers  j 
so  1500  of  them  marched  from  Britain  to  Rome  to  ask 
that  he  should  be  dismissed.  He  was  at  once  put  to 
death  : but  you  see  how  powerful  the  soldiers  were 
growing  when  they  began  to  interfere  in  the  govern- 
ment itself. 

Commodus  was  cruel  and  wicked  in  every  way. 
The  thing  he  cared  about  most  were  the  sports  given 
to  the  people.  He  was  very  proud  of  his  own  skill 
in  shooting,  and  once  when  100  lions  were  let  loose  in 
the  amphitheatre  he  killed  them  all  with  100  darts. 
He  used  to  fight  as  a gladiator  himself,  of  course 
taking  good  care  that  he  was  in  no  danger  of  being 
hurt.  This  was  thought  very  disgraceful  by  the 
Romans,  and  his  cruelty  was  so  hateful  that  at  last  he 
was  murdered  in  his  palace  by  his  servants. 

13.  Pertinax. — After  his  death,  an  old  senator, 
Pertinax,  was  made  emperor  by  the  Senate,  but  the 
Praetorian  Guards  did  not  like  his  sternness.  They 
rose  against  him  and  killed  him,  when  he  had  been 
emperor  for  three  months,  and  the  power  now  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  soldiers,  who  made  emperors  of 
whoever  they  liked. 


CHAPTER  XL 

EMPERORS  ELECTED  BY  THE  SOLDIERS 
(193-284). 

I.  Growth  of  the  Power  of  the  Army. — From 
this  time  for  nearly  a hundred  years  the  emperors  were 
chosen  by  the  soldiers,  and  the  government  of  Rome 
was  consequently  in  great  confusion.  You  remember 
that  it  was  by  the  army,  after  all,  that  Julius,  and 
afterwards  Augustus,  had  gained  their  power.  But, 


104  ROMAN  HISTORY.  [chap. 

when  they  had  gained  it,  they  wished  to  use  it  with 
the  consent  of  the  people,  and  so  keep  it  quietly 
without  having  to  look  to  the  soldiers  to  help  them. 
Augustus,  however,  had  not  been  able  to  do  so  al- 
together; he  had  kept  some  soldiers,  the  Praetorian 
Guards,  in  Rome;  and,  as  you  have  seen,  these  soldiers 
sometimes  settled  who  should  be  emperor.  Still,  upon 
the  whole,  the  emperor  was  chosen  by  the  Senate,  and 
not  by  the  soldiers. 

This  state  of  things  had  lasted  while  the  Empire 
was  at  peace,  and  the  emperor  lived  generally  in  Rome, 
and  was  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  state.  But  now 
things  were  changing,  and  the  emperor  must  be  the 
leader  of  the  armies.  Marcus  Aurelius  had  been 
forced  to  spend  his  days  in  the  camp,  and  to  try  and 
become  a general,  though  it  was  greatly  against  his 
will.  The  soldiers  were  now  the  most  important  part 
of  the  state,  and  they  would  no  longer  take  for  their 
leader  anyone  whom  the  Senate  sent  them. 

2.  Confusion  on  the  Death  of  Pertinax. — This 
was  soon  found  out  when  the  Praetorian  Guards  rose  and 
murdered  Pertinax  (193).  They  then  sold  the  Empire 
to  the  highest  bidder,  who  was  a rich  senator,  Didius 
Julianus.  This  could  not  be  borne  by  the  armies 
along  the  frontier,  which  all  took  up  arms.  Julianus 
was  killed  after  reigning  three  months,  and  then,  after 
some  fighting  between  the  different  generals,  an  African, 
Septimus  Severus,  overcame  the  others,  and  became 
Emperor  (i  93-211). 

3.  Septimus  Severus. — Septimus  Severus  waa 
nothing  but  a soldier,  and  did  not  care  about  Rome 
or  the  Senate.  He  governed  by  force,  and  was  only 
desirous  to  keep  the  army  in  his  favour.  During  his 
reign  the  soldiers  got  higher  pay  and  greater  privileges, 
and  so  becarne  the  chief  people  in  the  state.  Up  to 
this  time  the  Praetorian  Guards  had  always  been 
natives  of  Italy;  but  Severus  chose  them  from  the 
best  soldiers  of  all  the  armies,  and  made  their  number 
50,000.  So  now  Rome  was  in  the  power  of  these 


XI.]  EMPERORS  ELECTED  BY  THE  SOLDIERS.  105 

foreign  soldiers ; and  Severus  hoped  that  the  emperor, 
with  these  troops  at  hand,  would  in  the  future  be 
strong  enough  to  resist  the  generals  of  the  armies  in 
the  provinces.  In  this  way  the  Empire  changed 
entirely,  and  became  a government  carried  on  by 
the  soldiers. 

4.  Caracalla. — The  result  of  this  change  was  soon 
seen.  The  son  of  Severus,  who  is  known  by  the  nick- 
name of  Caracalla  (21 1-2 17),  was  a cruel  tyrant.  He 
knew  that  he  might  do  anything,  if  he  only  got  the 
soldiers  on  his  side.  He  murdered  his  brother  Geta, 
who  was  emperor  with  him ; and  he  also  went  with 
his  Praetorian  Guards  through  the  provinces,  and  so 
was  the  first  emperor  who  had  been  a tyrant  anywhere 
else  than  in  Rome.  Thus,  at  Alexandria,  being  angry 
at  the  jokes  which  the  people  made  about  him,  he 
invited  them  to  come  outside  the  walls,  and  then 
ordered  his  guards  to  kill  all  who  were  there.  Cara- 
calla used  every  means  to  raise  money  to  pay  his 
soldiers,  and  this  was  another  great  e^  which  this 
new  plan  of  government  brought  with  it.  The  soldiers 
must  be  paid  very  highly,  and  every  time  the  emperor 
had  done  anything  they  did  not  like  he  had  to  give 
them  more  money  to  make  them  contented.  So  the 
people  were  taxed  in  every  way  to  pay  the  soldiers. 

5.  Roman  Citizenship  given  to  all  the  Pro- 
vinces.— One  good  thing,  however,  came  out  of  this; 
Caracalla  gave  the  rights  of  Roman  citizenship  to  all 
the  provinces,  so  that  all  who  were  governed  by  Rome 
called  themselves  Romans  alike.  Italy  and  the  pro- 
/inces  were  now  equal,  and  there  were  no  differences  be- 
tween one  free  man  and  another.  This  was  not  done, 
however,  for  any  good  reason,  but  only  that  Caracalla 
might  lay  upon  all  the  provinces  the  taxes  which  were 
paid  by  the  citizens  of  Rome.  Still  this  decree  of 
Caracalla  was  the  end  of  a change  that  had  been 
slowly  going  on  ever  since  the  time  of  Caius  Grac- 
chus. It  drew  the  Empire  much  more  together,  and 
made  it  entirely  one.  Roman  ideas  had  long  been 


£o6  roman  history.  [chap.  XI 

Spreading  among  the  people  of  the  provinces,  but  now 
everyone  was  in  name,  as  well  as  in  thought,  a Roman. 
People  everywhere  called  themselves  Romans,  and  the 
name  Roumania  still  remains,  to  show  how  proud 
were  the  Dacians,  whom  Trajan  conquered,  to  mix 
with  the  Roman  settlers  and  call  themselves  by  theu 
name. 

6.  Alexander  Severus. — It  is  not  worth  youi 
while  to  know  the  names  of  all  the  emperors  from  this 
time.  They  all  met  with  the  same  fate ; they  were 
set  up  by  the  soldiers  who  had  killed  the  emperor 
before  them,  and  who  needed  some  one  else  in  his 
place  to  give  authority  to  what  they  had  done.  Then 
the  soldiers  soon  found  that  they  liked  their  new 
emperor  quite  as  little  as  they  had  liked  their  old  one, 
and  so  he  was  killed  in  his  turn.  The  best  of  these 
emperors  was  Alexander  Severus  (222-235). 
lived  simply  at  Rome,  and  tried  his  best  to  govern 
well.  At  certain  hours  in  the  day  his  palace  was 
open  for  any  one  to  see  him  who  wanted  to  do  so; 
but  a crier  stood  at  the  gate  and  called,  “ Let  no  one 
enter  these  holy  walls  unless  he  feels  that  his  heart  is 
pure  and  innocent.”  Alexander  tried,  however,  in 
vain  to  lessen  the  power  of  the  soldiers  and  to  pre- 
vent them  from  committing  crimes.  They  were  so 
strong  that  they  knew  that  they  could  do  what  they 
pleased  without  being  punished,  and  were  so  angry 
with  Alexander  for  trying  to  punish  them  when  they 
did  wrong,  that  they  conspired  against  him  and  killed 
him.  This  they  did  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  where 
Alexander  had  gone  to  lead  his  troops  against  th< 
Germans. 

7.  Rome’s  Enemies. — It  is  easy  to  see  that 
soldiers  who  made  emperors  and  unmade  them  as  they 
pleased,  and  who  could  behave  as  they  chose  without 
fear  of  punishment,  were  not  good  soldiers  to  lead 
against  the  enemy.  While  they  were  quarrelling  about 
which  general  should  be  emperor,  the  foes  of  Rome  were 
growing  stronger  and  stronger  on  the  frontiers.  All 


The  Enemies  of  the  Roman  EmDir%. 


io8  ROMAN  HISTORY.  [chap. 

along  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube  different  tribes  of 
the  Germans  were  attacking  the  Roman  borders. 
Amongst  them  were  the  Franks,  who  afterwards  gave 
the  name  of  France  to  the  country  which  was  as  yet 
called  Gaul,  and  the  Goths,  who  were  a people  very 
nearly  akin  to  the  English.  In  the  East  also  a 
very  powerful  enemy  had  arisen  in  the  Persians. 
They  had  been  the  great  people  of  the  East  in  old 
times,  when  Rome’s  power  did  not  go  farther  than 
her  own  walls : but  they  had  been  conquered  by 
Alexander  the  Great,  and  since  then  had  fallen  under 
the  power  of  the  Parthians.  In  the  year  226,  under 
a leader  called  Artaxerxes,  they  freed  themselves  from 
the  Parthians,  and  formed  again  a great  Persian  king- 
dom. So  you  see  there  had  grown  up  slowly  very 
strong  enemies  to  Rome,  on  both  the  sides  on  which 
she  could  be  attacked. 

8.  Disasters  of  Rome. — Soon  the  weakness  of 
Rome  and  the  badness  of  her  armies  were  sadly  found 
out.  Rome  had  now  to  fight  enemies  as  strong  as 
those  whom  she  had  had  to  do  with  in  her  early  days ; 
but  the  soldiers,  who  now  fought  only  to  get  their 
pay  and  enjoy  themselves  in  peace,  were  very  different 
from  the  Roman  citizens  who  had  left  their  little  farms 
to  fight  their  country’s  battles.  From  the  year  250 
to  the  year  267  Rome  was  defeated  on  every  side. 
In  251  the  Emperor  Decius  was  killed  in  battle 
against  the  Goths,  and  his  son  Gallus  paid  them 
a yearly  tribute  to  get  peace.  After  this  the  Frank? 
ravaged  Gaul  and  Spain,  the  Goths  plundered  Asia 
Minor  and  Greece,  while  the  Persians  entered  Armenia 
The  Emperor  Valerian  (253-60)  marched  to  the  East, 
but  was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner  by  the  Persian 
king.  It  is  said  that  he  was  carried  about  in  chains 
from  place  to  place,  and  the  Persian  king  used  him 
as  a footstool  whenever  he  mounted  his  horse  : when 
he  died  his  skin  was  stuffed  and  kept  in  a Persian 
temple.  These  defeats  led  to  still  greater  misery  in 
the  Empire.  During  the  reign  of  GalHenus  (260-265). 


XII.  I KMF&RORS  ELECTED  E V THE  ^OEVJEEE  109 


the  son  of  Valerian,  arose  a great  number  of  pre- 
tenders who  called  themselves  emperors.  Really  the 
Empire  was  now  broken  in  pieces ; every  army  called 
its  own  general  emperor  of  Rome,  and  during  this 
confusion  there  could  be  no  government  of  the  whole 
9.  The  Illyrian  Emperors. — ^At  last,  however 
the  power  of  Rome  again  rose.  On  the  death  of  Gal 
lienus  a brave  soldier,  Claudius,  a native  of  Illyria, 
succeeded,  and  drove  back  the  Goths  (268-70).  Aftei 
him  came  Aurelian,  another  Illyrian  (270-75),  who  left 
the  province  of  Dacia  to  the  Goths,  as,  he  found  it 
useless  for  the  Romans  to  try  and  keep  it.  From  this 
time  the  Danube  was  again  the  northern  boundary  of 
Rome’s  dominions.  But  Aurelian  again  brought  the 
Empire  under  one  ruler.  The  Roman  Empire  was 
still  strong  enough  when  it  was  united,  and  when  it 
had  a brave  man  at  its  head,  but  it  could  only  put 
forth  its  strength  when  it  was  well  governed.  Every 
fight  for  the  Empire  between  generals,  every  rebellion 
of  the  soldiers  against  the  emperor,  gave  the  barbarians 
on  the  frontiers  a chance  of  crossing  the  borders  and 
plundering  the  provinces.  Every  time  they  did  so 
the  Romans  became  weaker  and  poorer,  and  less 
able  to  drive  them  back  again.  Though  Rome  might 
therefore  hold  out  for  the  present,  it  was  clear  she 
would  not  be  able  to  do  so  much  longer,  unless  she 
changed  her  government  for  the  better. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

CHANGES  MADE  BY  DIOCLETIAN  AND 
CONSTANTINE. 

I.  Diocletian  changed  a great  deal  of  the  plan  of  the 
Roman  government.  His  parents  are  said  to  have 
been  slaves  at  Rome,  and  he  himself  rose  in  the  army 
by  his  abilities.  He  was  made  emperor  by  the  soldiers, 
and  was  determined  to  keep  himself  free  from  the 
dangers  by  which  the  emperors  before  him  had  been 


f lO 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap. 


overthrown.  He  saw  that  the  two  things  to  do 
were,  first,  to  defend  the  frontiers  of  the  Empire 
from  the  barbarians ; secondly,  to  defend  the  emperor 
from  the  soldiers,  so  that  they  should  not  be  able  to 
put  him  to  death  when  they  did  not  like  him,  and  set 
up  another  in  his  place.  lie  thought  that  both  these 
objects  might  be  gained  by  dividing  the  emperor’s 
power,  instead  of  keeping  it  all  in  his  own  hands. 
He  accordingly  chose  a brave  general,  Maximian, 
with  whom  he  shared  the  Empire,  and  who  had  the 
title  of  Augustus  as  well  as  himself.  Afterwards  he 
added  two  other  generals,  Galerius  and  Constantins, 
who  had  the  name  of  Casars.  The  Caesars  were  not 
so  high  in  rank  as  the  two  Augusti,  but  they  were  to 
succeed  to  the  rank  of  Augustus  when  either  of  the 
others  died. 

2.  Power  of  the  Soldiers  reduced. — The  Ro- 
man Empire  was  thus  governed  by  four  men  instead  of 
one,  and  the  provinces  were  divided  amongst  the  four 
rulers.  Diocletian  ruled  over  Thrace,  Egypt,  and 
Asia : Maximian  over  Italy  and  Africa ; Constantins 
over  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Britain  : Galerius  over  the  pro- 
vinces along  the  Danube.  These  four  put  down  all 
rebellions  throughout  the  Empire,  and  then  set  their 
soldiers  to  work  at  building  walls  and  fortifying  the 
frontiers.  Along  the  Rhine  and  Danube,  and  also 
along  the  Persian  boundary,  camps  and  castles  were 
built  and  soldiers  were  stationed.  For  a time  there 
was  peace,  and  the  barbarians  were  kept  back. 

This  plan,  however,  only  succeeded  because  the 
four  rulers  all  worked  together.  So  long  as  they 
did  this  the  soldiers  had  to  give  way  to  them;  they 
felt  that  it  was  no  good  to  murder  only  one  of  them, 
because  the  other  three  would  march  against  them. 
They  would  be  punished  themselves,  and  would  not 
after  all  be  able  to  choose  their  own  emperor.  By  this 
plan  the  armies  were  under  the  emperors’  power,  and 
thus,  after  a long  while,  Rome  had  again  got  a govern- 
ment which  did  not  depend  entirely  on  the  soldiers. 


SII.]  CHANGES  MADE  BY  DIOCLETIAN. 


Ill 


3.  Seat  of  Empire  no  longer  in  Rome. — One 

great  change  which  this  new  state  of  things  made 
was  that  Rome  was  no  longer  the  only  capital : other 
places  became  as  important.  In  fact  Rome  was 
scarcely  the  capital  at  all;  the  Senate  still  stayed 
there,  but  the  emperors  did  not.  They  lived  in  places 
more  convenient  for  them,  as  they  had  .to  be  near  the 
frontiers,  and  ready  to  go  to  war  when  they  were 
wanted.  Thus  Diocletian  lived  at  Nicomedia  in  Asia 
Minor,  and  Maximian  at  Milan.  This  change  was 
really  a very  great  one.  You  have  seen  that  at  first  the 
emperors  had  only  claimed  to  be  the  chief  magis- 
trates of  the  city  of  Rome,  and  commanders  of  Rome’s 
armies.  But  under  their  rule  the  differences  between 
Rome  and  the  provinces  had  gradually  passed  away. 
Rome  had  not  now  the  position  so  far  above  all  other 
cities  which  she  once  had  had.  The  idea  of  empire 
was  now  no  longer  confined  to  the  city  of  Rome  itself, 
and  the  emperors  of  Rome  lived  wherever  it  was  most 
convenient  to  live. 

4.  Magnificence  of  the  Emperors. — When  the 
emperors  no  longer  lived  at  Rome  they  could  make 
many  changes  in  the  old  state  of  things.  The  first 
emperors  at  Rome  had  lived  like  the  chief  citizens, 
and  their  houses  were  simple.  This  had  gradually 
given  way  to  greater  grandeur,  and  now  this  grandeur 
was  carried  by  Diocletian  still  further.  He  wore  splen- 
did dresses,  and  had  a large  number'  of  servants ; he 
could  seldom  be  seen  by  any  of  his  subjects,  and 
never  did  anything  without  great  pomp.  People  had 
to  behave  to  him  as  if  he  were  another  kind  of  man  to 
themselves ; they  had  to  kneel  before  him,  and  speak 
to  him  in  words  of  great  humility.  So,  too,  the  names 
of  the  different  servants  of  the  emperor  became  titles 
of  rank,  which  were  thought  more  of  than  the  old 
names  of  consul  and  senator.  This,  grandeur  was 
another  method  which  Diocletian  used  to  separate  the 
emperor  from  the  soldiers.  They  no  longer  saw  him 
amongst  them,  and  they  became  gradually  more 

8* 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


fI2 


[CHAP. 


obedient  to  one  whom  they  thought  greater  than 
themselves. 

5.  Abdication  of  Diocletian. — This,  then,  was 
the  new  plan  of  government  which  Diocletian  brought 
in,  and  which,  as  you  will  see,  those  who  came  after 
him  carried  out  still  more.  Diocletian  is  also  famous  in 
history  because  he  is  one  of  the  very  few  rulers  who 
have  given  up  their  high  office  of  their  own  accord 
and  have  gone  back  into  private  life.  During  twenty- 
one  years  he  had  worked  very  hard  for  the  state, 
and,  in  305,  finding  his  health  was  failing,  he  laid 
down  before  the  people  and  the  soldiers  the  purple 
robe  which  the  emperors  always  wore,  and  went  away 
to  a palace  which  he  had  had  built  for  himself  in  Dal- 
matia. There  he  lived  for  nine  years — but  not  en- 
tirely in  contentment,  for  there  arose  civil  wars 
amongst  the  Caesars  and  Augusti,  which  lasted  till 
the  year  323. 

6.  Constantine  the  Great. — In  that  year  Flavius 
Valerius  Constantinus,  known  as  Constantine  the 
Great,  once  more  brought  the  Roman  world  under 
the  rule  of  one  emperor.  Constantine  was  the  son  of 
Constantins  the  Caesar,  and  on  his  father’s  death,  in 
306,  he  was  made  Caesar  of  the  troops  in  Britain.  In 
the  wars  which  followed  he  was  both  wise  and  brave, 
and  managed  to  spread  his  power.  Gradually  he 
overcame,  one  by  one,  all  the  others  who  claimed  to 
rule,  and  so,  in  323,  he  was  the  only  emperor. 

7.  Spread  of  Christianity. — All  this  while  Chris- 
tianity had  been  going  on  spreading  in  the  Roman 
Empire.  The  number  of  churches  and  congregations 
in  every  city  had  been  increasing.  You  have  seen 
that  the  Christians  were  not  liked  by  the  emperors, 
and  that  many  of  them  were  put  to  death  by  Nero. 
From  time  to  time  the  emperors  had  tried  to  put  a 
stop  to  Christianity.  They  thought  that  it  was  teach- 
ing the  people  to  disobey  the  laws,  and  that  Christians 
were  not  faithful  subjects.  They  could  not  under- 
stand a religion  whose  followers  refused  to  take  part 


KIL]  CHANGES  MADE  BY  CONSTANTINE.  113 

in  the  religion  of  the  state.  They  did  not  object  to 
the  Christians  having  their  own  worship,  but  they 
insisted  that  all  members  of  the  state  should  take  part 
in  the  state  festivals  and  sacrifices.  This  the  Chris- 
tians could  not  do,  so  the  emperors  from  time  to 
time  persecuted  them.  It  was  not  so  much  the 
wicked  emperors  who  persecuted  as  the  good  ones ; 
for  they  looked  upon  the  Christians  as  rebels  who 
ought  to  be  put  down.  Thus  Trajan,  Decius  (244), 
and  Valerian  were  all  persecutors ; but  Diocletian 
was  worst  of  all.  From  303  to  313  Christians 
were  put  to  death  in  every  part  of  the  Empire, 
but  it  was  for  the  last  time.  The  constancy  with 
which  they  endured  death  rather  than  agree  to  what 
they  did  not  believe  showed  that  they  were  stronger 
than  the  emperors.  Through  all  the  Roman  world 
the  emperor  had  brought  everything  under  his  own 
power  except  Christianity.  The  Christians  alone  held 
out  for  freedom,  and  so  all  those  who  had  any  love  for 
freedom  began  to  gather  round  them.  All  the  old 
religions  had  died  out ; very  few  really  believed  in 
them.  The  miseries  which  the  Romans  had  suffered 
made  them  feel  their  need  of  a religion ; the  constancy 
of  the  Christians  when  they  were  persecuted  made 
every  one  admire  them,  and  they  only  grew  stronger 
through  the  emperors’  attempts  to  get  rid  of  them. 
So  the  Emperor  Constantine  found  the  Christians  so 
strong  that  he  judged  it  wise  to  make  the  Christian 
religion  the  religion  of  the  Empire. 

8.  Constantine  makes  the  Empire  Christian. 
— Constantine  was  emperor  alone  from  323  to  337, 
and  he  first  made  the  Roman  Empire  Christian.  This 
changed  it  a great  deal,  and  made  it  much  stronger  \ 
for  Christianity  bound  men  together  more  firmly,  and 
this  was  very  much  wanted,  since  the  Empire  was  be- 
ginning to  fall  in  pieces,  because  there  was  no  great 
reason  why  men  should  want  to  be  governed  by  the 
emperors  rather  than  submit  to  the  barbarians. 

9.  Constantine  founds  a new  Rome. — Con- 


**4 


ROMAN  HISTORY, 


[CHAP. 


stantine  knew  this,  so  he  determined  to  cany  out  still 
further  the  plans  of  Diocletian,  and  made  still  greater 
changes  in  the  Empire,  He  knew  that  in  Rome  itsell 
the  old  ideas  of  government  would  always  be  very 
strong ; so  he  founded  a new  Rome,  which  was  to  be  his 
capital  city  for  the  future.  This  city  was  called,  after 
Its  founder,  Consiantmopolis,  or  the  City  of  Constantine, 
It  was  built  on  the  promontory  of  Thrace  that  reaches 
out  into  the  Black  Sea;  so,  you  see,  it  was  on  that 
part  of  Europe  which  was  nearest  to  Asia,  and  also  it 
was  built  amongst  a Greek-speaking  and  not  a Latin- 
speaking people.  No  doubt  this  was  done  on  purpose, 
because  the  people  of  Asia  had  always  been  used  to 
the  rule  of  one  man,  while  the  people  of  Europe  had 
not,  and  Constantine  wanted  to  make  his  power  more 
like  that  which  the  rulers  of  Asia  had  over  their 
subjects. 

Also,  to  do  this  he  had  to  get  rid  of  the  bid  ideas  of 
Rome,  according  to  which  the  Emperor  was  only  the 
chief  magistrate  of  a free  people.  By  building  a new 
Rome,  he  could  take  just  as  much  of  the  customs  of 
the  old  Rome  as  he  liked,  and  could  get  rid  of  what 
he  disliked,  without  making  any  violent  change.  It 
would  have  been  hard  to  give  the  Emperor  new 
powers  so  long  as  he  stayed  in  Rome  : the  Senate 
would  still  have  had  a great  deal  of  authority.  But 
in  Constantinople  a new  Senate  was  made,  which 
bore  the  old  name,  but  which  was  filled  with  men 
whom  Constantine  chose,  who  were  many  of  them 
to  give  way  to  those  who  were 


I changes  in  the  Empire. — 

Thus  the  great  change  which  Constantine  made  was  to 
turn  the  Roman  Empire  into  an  absolute  monarchy. 
He  got  rid  of  Rome,  its  Senate  and  its  nobility,  by  going 
to  Constantinople.  Then  he  went  on  to  make  the  army 
powerless  against  the  Emperor,  by  making  the  number 
of  troops  which  obeyed  any  one  general  much  smaller 
than  it  had  been  before ; also.  Ae  troops  themselves 


xiL]  CHANGES  MADE  BY  CONSTANTINE.  115 

were  divided  into  two  classes,  one  of  which  waa 
quartered  in  towns,  and  the  other  defended  the  fron- 
tiers. In  this  way  they  were  not  likely  to  rebel,  be- 
cause they  were  so  divided  that  they  could  not  come 
together  in  large  enough  numbers  to  do  any  harm. 

Besides  this,  Constantine  divided  out  the  provinces 
into  a number  of  small  districts,  each  of  which  had 
its  magistrates.  These  small  districts  again  were 
gathered  up  into  thirteen  larger  ones ; — over  these 
were  set  four  prefects,  who  were  answerable  to  the 
Emperor.  In  this  way  the  Emperor  became  the  head 
of  a large  body  of  officials,  who  were  put  in  their 
places  by  him,  and  removed  by  him  if  he  thought  fit. 
Of  course  all  these  officials  wished  the  Emperor  to  go 
on  being  Emperor,  and  so  would  be  likely  to  keep 
down  rebellions  if  they  could.  Also,  these  officials 
made  up  a new  body  of  nobles,  who  took  the  place  of 
the  old  nobles.  They  were  nobles  not  by  birth,  but 
because  they  held  offices. 

You  see,  then,  how  great  a change  Constantine  made. 
He , was  very  much  helped  in  making  it  by  the  fact 
that  he  had  become  a Christian.  The  new  Rome 
which  he  founded  had  a meaning  to  men  as  being  the 
first  city  which  had  never  been  anything  but  Christian. 
When  the  great  change  was  made  of  making  the  Em- 
pire Christian,  other  changes  could  easily  go  with 
it.  People  were  so  glad  to  have  Christianity  set  up  as 
the  religion  of  Rome,  that  they  looked  with  favour  on 
all  that  Constantine  did. 

II.  Evils  of  the  new  plan  of  government. — 
No  doubt  this  new  plan  of  government  made  the  Empire 
stronger.  It  kept  the  army  in  order,  and  took  care  of 
the  people.  But  it  cost  a great  deal  of  money  to  keep 
it  going.  The  Emperor  had  to  live  in  great  grandeur: 
he  had  a large  court,  and  a very  large  number  of 
officials,  all  of  whom  had  to  be  highly  paid.  The 
money  for  their  pay  had  to  be  got  by  taxes  from  the 
people,  and  these  taxes  were  paid  on  the  land  which 
every  man  possessed.  But  as  these  taxes  were 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[CHAP. 


1 16 

very  high,  men  could  not  pay  them  if  their  lands 
were  ravaged  by  a barbarian  invasion.  So  this  plan 
of  government  went  on  very  well  so  long  as  there 
was  peace,  but  when  there  was  war  on  the  frontiers 
the  people  were  brought  to  great  misery.  What  the 
barbarian  spared  the  tax-gatherer  carried  away.  So 
homesteads  which  had  once  been  ruined  were  not 
built  again,  and  thus  a strip  of  desert  land  was  slowly 
formed  inside  the  Roman  frontiers.  Of  course  this 
did  not  come  about  all  at  once,  but  things  went  on 
gradually  in  this  direction  ; and  you  will  see  what 
happened  in  conseciuence. 

12.  Julian. — The  family  of  Constantine  went  on 
ruling  after  his  death,  from  337  to  363.  The  most 
important  of  them  was  Flavius  Claudius  Julian  us,  his 
nephew,  who  as  a young  man  drove  the  Germans  out  of 
Gaul.  Although  he  had  been  brought  up  as  a Christian, 
he  went  back  again  to  the  worship  of  the  old  gods,  and 
tried  to  bring  it  back  among  the  people.  He  did  not 
dare  to  persecute  the  Christians  as  other  emperors 
had  done,  for  they  were  too  strong  for  that ; but  he 
turned  them  out  of  all  offices,  and  made  them  build 
up  again  the  heathen  temples  which  they  had  thrown 
down.  In  spite  of  this,  however,  Julian  was  a good 
emperor  : he  make  a great  expedition  against  the 
Persians,  and  defeated  them  several  times,  but  was 
killed  while  retiring  from  their  country.  He  was  the  last 
heathen  emperor,  but  his  attempts  to  bring  back  the  old 
religion  entirely  failed ; for  very  few  people  believed  in 
it,  or  could  do  so;  really  there  were  only  a few  men  like 
Julian  himself,  who  were  wise  men,  or  philosophers, 
and  who  saw  much  worldly  wisdom  in  the  old  heathen 
stories,  and  so  held  to  them.  Besides  these,  the 
country  people  were  long  in  changing  their  old 
opinions,  and  heathenism  remained  in  the  country 
after  it  had  died  away  in  the  towns;  so  the  word 
pagan  means  properly  one  who  lives  tn  a village. 
After  Julian’s  time,  however,  there  was  never  any  talk 
of  bringing  back  the  old  religion. 


CII.]  CHANGES  MADE  BY  CONSTANTINE.  117 


13.  The  Barbarian  invasions. — We  now  come 
to  the  time  when  the  Roman  Empire  began  to  be 
broken  up.  You  have  seen  how  the  Germans  had  for 
the  last  150  years  been  pressing  upon  the  Romans. 
Though  they  were  driven  back,  they  became  year  by 
year  stronger  and  stronger.  From  fighting  with  the 
Romans,  and  from  being  employed  as  Roman  soldiers, 
they  learned  a great  deal : from  breaking  into  the  pro- 
vinces and  plundering  the  Roman  towns  they  became 
rich,  and  also  learned  Roman  habits.  The  Goths,  to 
whom  Dacia  had  been  given  up  by  the  Romans,  had 
learned  most  from  Rome,  but  in  376  they  were  driven 
to  become  Rome’s  enemies. 

14.  Invasion  of  the  Goths. — It  seems  that  all 
this  time  great  changes  w^ere  going  on  in  the  great  plain 
of  northern  Asia,  and  in  consequence  of  these  changes 
an  Asiatic  people,  called  the  Huns,  came  into  Europe, 
and  attacked  the  Goths.  The  Goths  were  defeated  by 
them,  and  were  at  last  driven  to  cross  the  Danube, 
and  come  into  the  lands  of  the  Roman  Empire.  The 
Emperor  Valens  was  weak,  and  could  not  make  up  his 
mind  whether  to  treat  the  Goths  as  friends  or  as 
enemies.  He  took  them  under  his  protection,  and 
then  refused  to  give  them  food.  The  Goths  therefore 
rose  against  him,  and  he  was  killed  in  battle  in  378, 
after  which  the  Goths  were  for  some  time  masters  of 
the  Roman  Empire.  It  is  indeed  hard  to  see  how  the 
next  Emperor,  Theodosius  (379-95),  managed  to  drive 
them  out.  He  was  a Spaniard,  who  was  made  em- 
peror because  he  was  the  only  man  who  could  be  of 
any  use.  He  seems  to  have  been  very  clever  at 
separating  the  different  tribes  of  the  Goths  from  one 
another;  and  then  he  fought  against  them  one  by 
one,  and  at  last  partly  drove  them  out,  and  partly 
made  them  submit  to  Rome.  They  settled  in  the 
provinces  below  the  Danube,  and  so,  you  see,  the 
Roman  Empire  had  to  allow  the  barbarians  to  come 
and  take  their  place  within  her  own  borders.  This 
went  on  still  more  afterwards,  and  this  is  the  reason 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap. 


1 18 

why  the  Roman  Empire  was  never  overthrown,  but 
took  the  barbarians  into  itself,  and  so  went  on  chang 
ing  slowly  till  it  passed  away. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

SETTLEMENTS  OF  THE  BARBARIANS  IN 
THE  EMPIRE. 

I.  The  Goths  settle  in  Spain. — Theodosius  was 
the  last  emperor  who  ruled  over  the  whole  Empire. 
After  his  death  (395)  it  was  divided  between  his  two 
sons,  Arcadius  and  Honorius,  in  the  same  way  as  it 
had  been  done  in  the  days  of  Diocletian.  Arcadius 
ruled  in  the  east,  and  Honorius  in  the  west  But 
Honorius  was  only  a boy  of  the  age  of  eleven,  and 
was  under  the  guardianship  of  a brave  general, 
Stilicho.  So  long  as  Stilicho  lived  he  kept  back  the 
Goths,  but  in  408  he  was  put  to  death  by  the  order  of 
Honorius,  who  was  afraid  that  his  power  was  be- 
coming too  great.  When  Stilicho  was  gone  there  was 
no  longer  any  general  who  could  resist  the  Goths. 
Under  their  king  Alaric  they  besieged  and  took  Rome 
in  410.  Alaric  died  afterwards,  and  they  buried  him 
in  the  bed  of  a little  stream  which  they  had  turned 
aside  for  a time  and  then  turned  back  again,  that  no 
one  might  know  where  their  great  king  was  buried. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Athaulf,  who  had  learned  a 
great  deal  from  the  Romans.  He  saw  that  it  was 
useless  to  make  a Gothic  kingdom,  as  the  Goths  had 
not  yet  learned  to  obey  laws  and  live  quietly ; so  he 
thought  it  better  to  be  friendly  with  the  Romans,  and 
to  settle  down  with  his  Goths  among  the  Roman 
people.  He  therefore  married  the  sister  of  Hononus, 
and  passed  on  with  his  army  to  Spain  and  the*  south 
of  Gaul,  from  which  he  drove  the  German  tribes  who 
had  invaded  it.  He  called  himself  the  officer  of  the 
Roman  emperor,  but  he  really  fomded  a Gothic  king 


XUL]  SETTLEMENTS  OF  THE  BARBARIANS.  119 

dora,  which  was  the  first  regular  settlement  of  the 
barbarians  inside  the  Roman  Empire. 

2.  Invasion  of  the  Huns. — It  w'as  well  that  the 
Goths  and  the  Romans  were  on  good  terms  with  each 
other,  for  they  were  soon  attacked  by  their  old 
enemies  the  Huns.  The  Huns,  under  their  great 
king  Attila  (433-53),  burst  in  upon  Europe.  They 
were  the  worst  enemies  the  Romans  ever  had. 
They  were  of  an  entirely  different  race  fi"om  the 
peoples  of  Europe : they  destroyed  everything  where- 
ever  they  went,  and  looked  so  strange  and  horrible 
that  at  first  the  Romans  scarcely  believed  they  were 
men  at  all,  but  thought  they  were  more  like  wild 
beasts.  Attila  attacked  Gaul,  and  was  at  last  de- 
feated at  the  battle  of  Chalons,  in  451,  by  an  army 
of  Goths  and  Romans  under  the  command  of  the 
Roman  General  Aetius.  Luckily,  Attila  died  two 
years  afterwards,  and  then  the  Huns  fell  in  pieces,  as 
their  army  was  only  gathered  round  their  leader,  and 
when  he  died  the  army  did  not  keep  together  any 
longer. 

3.  Settlements  of  the  Barbarians. — But  all  this 
time  the  provinces  of  the  western  division  of  the  Empire 
were  being  overrun  by  German  tribes.  The  Goths  were 
in  Spain  and  South  Gaul ; the  Burgundians  in  Central 
Gaul;  the  Franks  in  North  Gaul.  The  English  were 
conquering  and  settling  in  Britain,  and  the  Vandals  had 
occupied  Africa,  Into  Italy  also  the  German  armies 
had  gone,  and  although  their  generals  called  them- 
selves officers  of  the  Roman  Empire,  they  really  did 
what  they  chose.  At  last,  in  476,  the  Emperor 
Romulus  Augustus  laid  down  his  title : the  Senate 
of  Rome  sent  to  the  Eastern  Emperor  Zeno  to  say 
that  one  emperor  was  enough,  that  Italy  would  have 
him  for  its  emperor,  but  that  the  German  general 
Odoacer  would  act  as  his  deputy  in  Italy.  So 
-Odoacer,  who  was  a king  of  the  Heruli,  ruled  over 
Itoly,  and  after  him  came  kings  of  other  German 
tribeiS  into  Italy,  who  were  all  considered  the  officers 


ROMAN  HISTOR  Y. 


120 


[chap. 


of  the  Eastern  Emperor,  but  who  really  did  what 
they  pleased. 

4.  The  Roman  Empire  of  the  East. — All  this 
while  the  Eastern  Empire  had  gone  on  more  quietly. 
Attila  and  his  Huns  had  not  plundered  so  much  in 
the  East;  they  found  it  better  to  pass  on  to  GauL 
The  Eastern  Empire  was  stronger,  and  kept  more 
together.  It  differed  from  the  Western  Empire, 
because  the  people  spoke  Greek,  and  had  been  civil- 
ised people  long  before  the  Romans  were.  So  they 
had  not  become  just  like  the  Romans,  as  the  western 
peoples,  who  were  uncivilised  when  the  Romans 
conquered  them,  had  become.  The  Greeks  still 
had  their  own  manners  and  customs;  they  were  much 
more  busy  with  trade  and  commerce  than  were  the 
peoples  of  the  West  They  were  very  fond  of  talking 
and  discussing  things ; so,  when  they  became  Chris- 
tians, they  used  to  dispute  about  all  the  doctrines 
of  religion,  till  the  points  in  dispute  were  settled 
by  the  votes  of  bishops  at  a council,  and  in  this  way 
Theology  grew  up.  All  these  things  made  the  Eastern 
Empire  keep  together  more  than  the  Western.  The 
Greek -speaking  peoples  might  be  invaded,  but  they 
did  not  mix  with  their  invaders  they  kept  themselves 
separate,  and  waited  till  the  enemy  was  gone,  and 
then  went  on  as  before. 

5.  Effects  of  the  Settlements  in  the  West. — 
In  the  West,  on  the  other  hand,  the  German  conquerors 
and  the  Latin-speaking  people  of  the  provinces  settled 
down  together  very  contentedly,  except  only  in  Bri- 
tain. The  English  had  never  had  anything  to  do 
with  Rome  when  they  came  here,  so  they  conquered 
and  drove  out  the  Britons,  and  would  learn  nothing 
bom  them.  But  in  Spain  and  Gaul  and  Italy  the 
people  who  settled  began  to  talk  Latin,  and  to  behave 
like  the  Romans.  And  this  is  why  the  people  of 
Spain  and  France  and  Italy  at  the  present  day  talk 
what  are  called  Romance  languages,  that  is,  langua'ges 
which  began  from  the  Roman,  but  have  been  chpjiged 


XIII.]  SETTLEMENTS  OP  THE  BARBARIANS.  121 

from  the  old  Latin,  because  these  peoples  were  care- 
less, and  tried  to  make  it  easier  for  themselves  as  they 
went  on. 

6.  Reign  of  Justinian. — So,  while  the  Western 
j Empire  was  being  split  up,  the  Eastern  Empire  kept 

together,  and  managed  to  keep  back  the  Huns  and 
• Persians,  who  were  its  chief  enemies.  Under  the 
Emperor  Justinianus  or  Justinian  (527-65),  there  was 
even  an  attempt  made  to  win  back  from  the  barbar- 
ians the  provinces  which  they  had  taken  from  the 
Empire.  The  great  general  Belisarius  showed  a 
wonderful  power  of  making  his  soldiers  love  him 
and  follow  him,  however  rash  he  might  seem  to 
be.  He  first  defeated  the  Persians  j then  he  crossed 
over  to  Africa  and  defeated  the  Vandals,  and  again 
made  Africa  a province  of  the  Empire.  He  then 
conquered  Sicily,  and  drove  the  Goths  out  of  Italy. 
So  that  Justinian  was  real  ruler  both  of  Rome  and 
of  Constantinople. 

But  this  did  not  last  long,  for  in  568  another 
German  people,  the  Lombards,  invaded  Italy  and 
conquered  all  the  northern  part  of  it.  The  Persians, 
too,  had  become  more  powerful  than  ever  in  the  East, 
and  another  people  like  the  Huns,  called  the  Avars, 
settled  along  the  Danube.  Still  the  Empire  had  great 
men  to  help  her  when  she  was  in  trouble.  The 
Emperor  Heraclius  (610-41)  was  one  of  the  greatest 
generals  ever  known,  almost  as  great  as  Hannibal. 
He  went  with  his  army  into  the  country  of  the 
Persians,  and  for  four  years  defeated  every  army  they 
could  send  against  him.  The  power  of  the  Persians 
was  entirely  destroyed ; at  the  same  time,  too,  the 
Avars  had  grown  weaker,  and  it  would  seem  that 
the  Empire  might  have  peace. 

7.  Conquests  of  the  Arabs. — But  a more  serious 
enemy  was  soon  to  rise  against  them.  Mohammed, 
an  Arabian,  taught  the  people  of  Arabia  a purer 
religion  than  they  had  known  before.  The  scattered 
tribes  gathered  themselves  together  round  him  and 


133 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


[chap 


his  teaching,  and  the  Arabs  went  out  to  conquer 
as  the  Huns  had  done  before.  There  was,  however, 
this  great  difference : the  Huns  only  followed  a great 
leader,  and  fell  in  pieces  when  he  was  dead : the 
Arabs  believed  what  their  leader  taught  them,  and 
so  held  together  while  they  won  a great  empire. 
S)uia,  Egypt,  and  Africa  were  conquered  by  them,  and 
were  never  won  back  by  the  Roman  Empire.  One 
great  reason  of  this  was,  that  the  Greek-speaking  Chris- 
tians differed  very  much  about  questions  concerning 
religion,  and  when  they  differed  they  called  one  an- 
other heretics,  and  quarrelled  a great  deal.  Thus  it 
came  about  that  many  were  willing  to  submit  to  the 
Arabs  rather  than  give  up  their  religious  opinions. 
The  Arabs  passed  over  into  Spain  and  threatened 
the  West,  but  were  driven  out  of  Gaul  by  the  leader 
of  the  Franks,  Charles  Martel,  in  732. 

After  these  losses,  which  took  place  between  633 
and  692,  the  Roman  Empire  only  ruled  over  Greece, 
the  provinces  below  the  Danube,  Asia  Minor,  and 
part  of  Italy.  It  soon  lost  almost  the  whole  of  what 
it  still  held  in  Italy,  because  the  Emperor  Leo  III 
(717-41)  quarrelled  with  the  Pope,  or  Bishop  of  Rome, 
about  the  worshipping  of  images. 

8.  Rome  again  sets  up  an  Emperor. — All  this 
time  the  emperors  had  done  nothing  for  Italy;  the 
Lombards  had  become  more  powerful  in  the  north, 
and  the  Popes  had  made  themselves  chief  magistrates 
of  the  city  of  Rome,  as  there  was  no  one  else.  Now, 
when  the  Pope  and  Emperor  quarrelled,  the  connexion 
between  Italy  and  the  emperors  at  Constantinople  was 
more  and  more  broken  off.  The  Pope  looked  to  the 
kings  of  the  Franks,  who  were  the  most  powerful  of 
the  German  peoples,  and  had  settled  in  Gaul,  to  help 
him  against  the  Lombards.  And  at  last,  in  the  year  800, 
Charles  the  Great,  king  of  the  Franks,  was  crowned 
Roman  Emperor  by  the  Pope  at  Rome. 

9.  The  Division  of  the  Empire. — ^At  this  time, 
then,  there  were  two  Emperors,  one  at  Rome  and  th> 


XIII.]  SETTLEMENTS  OF  THE  BARBARIANS.  123 

Other  at  Constantinople,  who  both  claimed  to  be  the 
rulers  of  the  whole  Roman  world,  as  the  early  Em- 
perors had  been.  But  really  the  West  obeyed  the 
one,  and  the  East  the  other;  and  so  men  came  to 
speak  of  an  Eastern  and  a Western  Empire.  For 
some  time  these  Empires  did  not  have  much  to  do 
with  one  another,  and  at  last  they  became  open 
enemies. 

10.  Fall  of  the  Western  Empire. — The  Western 
Empire  was  called  at  a later  time  the  Holy  Roman 
Ejttpire,  and  its  emperor  was  also  the  German  king. 
He  claimed  to  have  authority  over  all  the  people  of  the 
West,  but  his  authority  grew  less  and  less,  as  nations 
formed  themselves  in  Europe.  For  you  have  seen  that 
the  Roman  Empire  grew  up  because  Rome  brought  all 
the  ancient  nations  under  her  rule.  Then,  when  the 
Roman  Empire  was  split  up  by  the  settlements  of 
barbarians  within  it,  at  first  people  still  all  kept  together 
in  a sort  of  way.  But  the  barbarians  and  the  Romans 
mixed  together  differently  in  different  places  : some- 
times there  were  more  Romans,  sometimes  more  bar- 
barians. This  made  great  differences,  so  people 
gathered  together  into  groups  according  to  these 
differences,  and  out  of  these  groups  sprung  up  what 
we  now  call  nations.  As  fast,  then,  as  the  nations 
grew  up  the  Empire  feU  in  pieces,  and  after  the  Refor- 
mation the  title  Holy  Roman  Empire  meant  hardly 
anything  at  all. 

11.  Fall  of  the  Eastern  Empire. — The  Eastern 
Empire  went  on  fighting  very  bravely  against  the  various 
tribes  of  Turks  in  the  East,  and  against  the  different 
tribes  of  barbarians  who  attacked  the  provinces  along 
the  Danube.  It  grew  smaller  and  smaller,  and  be- 
came only  a Greek  kingdom.  It  was  at  last  destroyed 
by  the  Turks,  who  took  Constantinople  in  1453,  and 
made  it  the  capital  of  a Turkish  Empire,  whi^  still 
remains. 

12.  Influence  of  the  Roman  Empire. — You 
see,  however,  how  long  the  old  laws  and  ideas  of  Rome 


124 


ROMAIC  HISTORY. 


[CHAIP. 


went  on.  Modern  Europe  was  founded  on  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  the  modem  nations 
grew  up  under  its  shadow.  The  power  of  Rome  was 
so  great  that  it  was  not  destroyed  all  at  once,  but 
died  away  gradually.  So  you  see  it  is  hard  to  say 
where  Roman  history  comes  to  an  end.  Every  nation 
in  Europe  owes  something  to  Rome.  Some,  as  we 
have  said,  are  called  Romance  peoples,  and  still  speak 
languages  which  come  from  the  Latin.  Of  course, 
together  with  Rome’s  language,  they  also  have  many 
ideas  about  government  and  other  things  that  come 
from  Rome.  The  German  races,  on  the  other  hand,  of 
which  we  are  one,  speak  German  and  not  a Latin 
language.  So  we  do  not  owe  so  much  to  Rome  as 
do  the  Italians,  or  the  French,  or  Spaniards,  but  still 
we  have  learned  something  from  Rome,  and  Roman 
history  must  always  have  a great  deal  of  interest  for 
us,  and  must  teach  us  to  understand  all  that  has 
happened  in  Europe  a great  deal  better  than  we  other- 
wise should. 

One  great  instance  of  this  influence  of  Rome,  even 
up  to  our  own  days,  may  be  seen  in  the  Papacy. 
\^en  the  power  of  the  city  of  Rome  became  smaller 
in  governing  the  State,  it  began  to  grow  larger  in 
governing  the  Church.  Men  had  so  long  been  ac- 
customed to  look  to  the  city  of  Rome  for  laws  and 
government  that,  when  the  Emperors  no  longer  lived 
there,  and  the  Bishop  of  Rome  had  become  the  chief 
man  in  the  city,  men  looked  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome 
for  laws  and  government  in  matters  of  religion.  When 
Rome  ceased  to  be  the  head  of  the  old  Pagan  Empire 
of  the  world,  she  became  the  head  of  the  new  Christian 
Empire  of  the  world ; and  the  notion  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire  was  that  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor  were 
closely  united,  and  were  together  to  direct  the  affairs 
of  Christendom.  Long  after  nations  had  formed  for 
themselves  their  own  civil  government,  it  was  thought 
that  in  religious  matters  all  nations  must  obey  the 
government  of  the  Roman  Church.  You  know  that, 


siil] 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


*25 


what  is  called  the  Reformation  is  the  time  in  which 
most  of  the  German  peoples,  the  English  amongst  the 
rest,  threw  off  the  rule  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome.  But 
the  Romance  peoples  still  obey  the  Pope,  and  though 
die  Roman  Empire  has  passed  away  in  political 
matters,  traces  of  it  still  remain  in  the  high  position 
given  in  religious  matters  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


Rome  Founded, 

The  Romans  drove  out  their  Kings,  . . . 

The  Plebeians  first  had  Tribunes, 

The  Decemvirs  published  the  Laws  at  Rome, 
The  Romans  took  Veii  from  the  Etruscans, 

The  Gauls  took  Rome,  ..... 
The  Laws  of  Licinius  and  Sextius  made  the 
Patricians  and  Plebians  equal  in  Rome, 

The  Romans  conquered  the  Latins, 

The  Romans,  having  conquered  the  Samnites,  be- 
came the  chief  people  in  Italy, 

The  Romans  drove  Pyrrhus,  King  of  Epirus,  out 
of  Italy,  ....... 

First  War  with  Carthage, 

War  with  Hannibal,  

The  Romans  conquered  the  East,  . . 

The  Romans  conquered  Spain,  . . . . 

Destruction  of  Carthage, 

Tiberius  Gracchus  tried  to  reform  the  Roman 

State, 

Caius  Gracchus  tried  to  reform  the  Roman  State, 
War  with  Jugurtha  in  Numidia,  . . . . 

Caius  Marius  drove  back  the  Teutones  and 
Cimbri  from  Italy,  . . . . . 

The  Italians  forced  Rome  to  make  them  Roman 

citizens, 

Civil  War  between  Sulla  and  Marius,  . 

Cnaeus  Pompeius  overcame  Rome’s  rebels, . 
Caius  Julius  Csesar  conquered  the  Gauls,  . 


B.C. 

753 

509 

494 

451 

396 

389 

366 

338 

290 

275 

264-241 

219-202 

200-160 

150 

146 

133 

123-121 

111-106 

102 

91-89 

88-82 

74-61 

58-49 


126 


ROMAN  HISTORY. 


B.C. 

Caius  Julius  Caesar  invaded  Britain,  ...  54 

Civil  War  between  Pompeius  and  Caesar,  in  which 
Caesar  was  conqueror  at  the  Battle  of  Phar- 

salia, 49-43 

Caius  Julius  Caesar  put  himself  at  the  head  of 

the  Government  of  Rome,  ....  48-44 

Caius  Julius  Caesar  was  murdered,  ...  44 

Marcus  Antonius,  Caius  Octavianus,  and  Marcus 
Lepidus  gained  the  chief  power  in  the  Roman 

State, . 43 

Octavianus  defeated  Antonius  at  Actium,  and  be- 
came the  chief  man  in  Rome,  ...  31 

Octavianus,  known  as  Augustus  Caesair,  governed 

the  Roman  Republic  as  Empa>or,  B.C.  30-14  A.D 


A.D. 

Tiberius  Emperor, 14-37 

Caius  Caesar  (Caligula)  Emperor,  ...  37-41 

Tiberius  Claudius  Caesar  Emperor,  . . . 41-54 

Nero  Claudius  Caesar  Emperor,  . . . 54-68 

Disturbances  in  the  Empire  after  the  fall  of  the 

Julian  family, 69 

Titus  Flavius  Vespasianus,  known  as  Vespasian, 

Emperor, 69-79 

Destruction  of  Jerusalem, 70 

Titus  Flavius  Vespasianus,  known  as  Titus,  Em- 
peror,   79-81 

Lucius  Flavius  Domitianus,  known  as  Domitian, 

Emperor, 81-96 

Ulpius  Trajanus  Emperor, 98-117 

Publius  .(Elius  Hadrianus  Emperor,  . . . 117-138 

Titus  .Elius  Antoninus,  known  as  Antoninus  Pius, 

Emperor, 138-161 

Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus, — the  first  Emperor 
who  had  to  spend  his  time  in  fighting  against 

barbarian  invaders, 161-180 

I'he  Emperors  were  elected  by  the  soldiers,  and 

barbarian  tribes  invaded  the  frontiers,  . . 192-268 

The  Emperor  Caracalla  made  all  men  who  were 

governed  by  Rome  citizens  of  Rome,  . . 215 

A series  of  Emperors  chosen  from  Illyria  drove 

back  the  invaders, 268-284 

The  Emperor  Diocletian  made  great  changes  in 

the  Roman  Empire, 284-30S 


CHSONOLOGWAL  TABLE.  127 

A.D. 

Flavius  Valerius  Constantinus,  known  as  Con- 
stantine the  Great,  made  the  Empire 
Christian,  and  built  Constantinople  as  its 
new  capital,  .......  323-337 

The  Emperor  Valens  was  killed  by  the  Goths  in 

battle, 378 

The  Emperor  Theodosius  drove  back  the  Goths,  379*395 

The  Empire  was  divided  between  two  Caesars, 

one  in  the  East  and  one  in  the  West,  . . 395 

The  Goths  settled  in  South  Gaul  and  Spain,  . 415 

The  Vandals  settled  in  Africa,  ....  429 

The  Huns,  under  their  King,  Attila,  invaded 

Europe, 433-4S3 

The  F ranks  were  settling  in  Gaul  and  the  English 

in  Britain, 450-500 

The  Empire  was  again  united  under  the  Emperor 
at  Constantinople,  and  a German  King 
governed  Italy  as  his  deputy,  . . . 476 

The  Emperor  Justinian  made  the  Empire  power- 
ful for  a time,  ......  527-565 

The  Arabs,  united  by  the  teaching  of  Mahomet, 
began  a career  of  conquest  in  Syria,  Egypt, 

and  Africa, 636 

The  Pope,  representing  the  people  of  Rome, 
crowned  Charles,  King  of  the  Franks,  as 

Emperor  of  Rome, 800 

The  Turks  captured  Constantinople,  and  brought 

the  Eastern  Empire  to  an  end,  . . . 1453 

Francis  II  abdicated  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  . t8o6 


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